the world of organic agriculture - Organic Eprints

13 Organic Farming in Asia
Local markets continue to flower from the rooftop of the region in Nepal to the flat steppes of
Mongolia. Money, Health and Safety, i.e. high income consumers interested in healthier diets
and concern about food safety are driving factors for domestic markets in major cities. Reported
for the first time and at an early stage of development, with production mostly at the family
gardening level (no figures available), a domestic market is emerging in Mongolia, especially
amongst higher income consumers interested in healthier diets.
Imports play an increasing support role to market development. According to the Ministry of
Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the increase from 2002 to 2003 of Japan’s volume of organic
products was mainly fuelled by imports. Foreign organic products are twice or more the quantity
of domestic products and a cause of concern for the Japanese organic movement. 84 percent of
increase however came from non-rival commodities such as coffee, black tea, nuts and buckwheat
categorized by MAFF as “other products”.
Whilst imports defined market growth in Japan, export defines sector growth in the region,
where foreign market access and competition grow more acute each year.
13.2 Production
A number of countries where activities were not recorded previously reported data this time.
Development agencies appear to have been busy implementing projects in emerging countries in
the Northeast, e.g. a Swiss sponsored bio-cotton project in Kyrgyzstan includes 230 farms, with a
total area of 200 hectares. Half of this area is cotton production, the rest is cereals. An extension
service in Georgia reported covering 3’000 hectares (432 farms) with 48 hectares (13 Farms)
under inspection by a certification body established through the support of the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation DEZA/SDC 1 (coordination by the NGO EPER, Switzerland) and
the German Development Agency GTZ 2 . There are at least 11 certified farms with a total area of
475 hectares and more unaccounted territories of wild collection in Armenia.
The sandy lands of the Middle East, Palestine and Saudi Arabia 3 also reported for the first time.
The three farms under Watania Agriculture Establishment, Saudi Arabia cover a total of 3’052
hectares of certified production comprising of vegetable and fruits. 500 hectares of cereals are
under conversion. The company says it has up to 10’000 hectares of arable land available for
conversion in coming years. Watania also processes fruit juices, jam, fruit concentrates, and
other fruit related products. They have about 2’000 hectares under conventional livestock due
to the lack of organic feed. There are 500 organic farms in Palestine with a total area of 1’000
hectares mainly under fruit, almond, olives and dates. According to the Palestinian Agricultural
Relief Committee, there are no organic pasturelands because they are under Israeli control.
1 Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation DEZA/SDC; Internet http://www.deza.admin.ch
2 German Development Agency GTZ; Internet http://www.gtz.de/en/
3 Watania Agriculture Establishment, Saudi Arabia (www.watania-agri.com)
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