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Organic marketing is improved at all levels in developing countries (local, regional and export marketing)
Most organic products from the southern countries are exported,
mainly to the European Union, the United States and Japan, while in
developing countries domestic markets for organic products are usually
underdeveloped. This is due to a combination of factors like low-income
levels, a general perception that most agricultural produce is organic,
low level of organisation of the organic movements in most DCs, and a
lack of information and awareness. A few efforts of the private sector
to establish organic markets exist e.g. in southern Brazil where local
farmers markets are very well developed.
Development of domestic markets is essential for the sustainable growth
of organic agriculture and for sustainable rural development in
general. There is a need for the development of a balance between
growth in OA and the demand for organic products. This is true for
Northern as well as for Southern countries. Not all producers in DCs
can export their organic products to a few markets in the North.
Competition is already increasing.
Export markets demand huge quantities of standardised high quality
products. Agro-business companies can cope with these requirements but
a large number of small-scale farmers in developing countries are left
behind by globalisation.
A marketing strategy which relies entirely on exports makes the
producers grow often a single cash crop and highly dependent on often a
single trader/importer. Furthermore, the world market prices fluctuate,
and dictate the planning of the trader, and in turn the farmer. In
general, the prices are falling. Organic farming, however demands that
farmer’s production be based on a diversity of crops and varieties.
All these factors clearly call for a diverse marketing strategy,
including or strengthening local, regional or even national markets.
National markets could also represent an important outlet for
agro-business companies and complement their exports.
There are a number of successful cases of local market developments on
all continents. Experiences need to be exchanged, compiled and
evaluated; effective models and tools drawn up and disseminated in
order to develop organic markets in DCs, and lead to growth in OA.
It is clear that all kind of organic markets require some kind of
certification or guarantee. International certification is in some
cases too expensive. Alternative verification systems, which are
affordable for the farmers have to be developed further. This could be
based on “building trust” in the case of direct marketing, private
labelling, etc.
In April 2004 IFOAM together with Maela (Movimiento Agroecologico de
Latina America y el Caribe) organized the first international workshop
on “Alternative Certification Systems”. An international working group
comprised of experienced representatives from all continents was
established, and an action plan developed. Later on, the IFOAM World
Board decided to change the term into “Participatory Guarantee Systems”
– link. The importance of PGS for the development of local organic
marketing is evident.
However, besides focusing on local marketing, regional and
international export marketing should not be neglected. Market
development at different levels provides much more flexibility, and is
needed for a sustainable development. At the international level, there
are still various bottlenecks, which need attention.
About 30 years ago, IFOAM was the first organisation worldwide that
started to developed standards for organic agriculture, the “IFOAM
Basic Standards” (IBS), which now serves as the standard for standards.
Now, there are more than 50 legislative standards in the world and
harmonization becomes enormously important for trade. In 2002, IFOAM
together with FAO and UNCTAD set up a task force that is working to
harmonize the standards. In 2004, IFOAM started to revise its OGS. The
objective is to make the OGS more accessible for all stakeholders. The
system should be helpful for market access, should be user friendly and
should have values. IFOAM still believes that private standards for
organic agriculture are necessary.
In this context, the chances of approval of other standards (e.g.
regional or national) are gaining importance. Within the I-GO program,
IFOAM already took the first steps in this direction (development of
criteria for other standards, development of a first matrix tool for
approval of other standards, and a survey of organic standards in
Asia). New experiences and recognition on the basis of the
above-mentioned task force and the process of the OGS revision are
showing clearly that additional efforts are needed in order to achieve
targeted results.
Planned Activities
- Facilitation of the development of local and regional markets
- Further development of PGS
- Further development of ICS for smallholders worldwide (north and south) and linking up with local marketing
- Support to targeted training and set up of PGS and local marketing systems
- Promotion of local organic marketing
- Facilitation of the approval of other standards
- Support to the development of regional/national standards
- Developing tools with the objective to eliminate double inspections
(e.g. IBS Forestry standards and FSC Principles and Criteria; social
standards, etc.)
- to review IFOAM policy on approval other standards(Policy 42) to make it more usable for building an IFOAM Family of Standards
- Lobbying for IFOAM’s Guarantee System
- Support the further development of parts of the IBS, which are of high relevance for DCs (e.g. Biodiversity standards, etc.)
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