Every year the BIOFACH conference - the world's largest organic agriculture conference - gathers international actors with stakes in organic agriculture, including regulators and policy-makers as well as businesses, who discuss the latest industry trends.
On 11 February, UNCTAD organized a side event to showcase its ongoing projects on organic agriculture as part of the United Nations Trade and Productive Capacity Cluster projects ongoing in Lao PDR and the United Republic of Tanzania.
Updates on the two country-studies were presented and the participants received copies of the reports prepared by UNCTAD analyzing the linkages between organic agriculture and tourism in both Laos and Tanzania.
As the congress included representatives from IFOAM, South American, Asian and African organic practitioners, discussions were held on approaches used to create markets for organic agriculture as well as different systems for certification adopted in various developing country contexts.
UNCTAD presented the project design used to develop organic agriculture capacities in Lao People's Democratic Republic and the United Republic of Tanzania, focusing on developing technical dialogues between farmers, government ministries and certification bodies, as well as promoting initial supply and demand linkages between organic agriculture and the tourism sector.
Reactions from the audience included questions about the balance between food safety standards and organic standards, as well as expressions of interest in the model adopted to create linkages between sustainable agriculture practices and the tourism sector, as a bridge to future export markets.
Also at Biofach there were talks with stakeholders involved in UNCTAD's project in Laos (Earth Net Foundation), as well as contacts established with IFOAM's Asia office, which has also shown interest to participate in the upcoming 5th Lao Organic Agriculture Forum in June 2016.
UNCTAD´s participation was supported and facilitated by the BIOFACH conference organizing committee.
Participants discuss organic agriculture policy and commercial strategies at the BIOFACH Congress, February 11 2016.
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UNCTAD/DITC/TED Home page
http://unctad.org/topic/trade-and-environment
UNCTAD/DITC/TED Organic Agriculture theme page
http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DITC/Trade-and-Environment/Organic-Agriculture.aspx
