the world of organic agriculture - Organic Eprints

used or, where these are available, the poor technical knowledge on their use.
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Statistics and Emerging Trends 2006
Finally, one of the major weaknesses of the Mediterranean organic agriculture is still the lack of
statistics. In fact, it is not easy to find reliable data on the present state and spread of organic
agriculture in the Mediterranean.
However, there is a common trend in the whole Mediterranean region towards the reconversion
of the present agricultural productive systems into a more comprehensive sustainable one, aiming
at the growth and overall recovery of the rural space and tackling the aspects bearing a reference
to environmental protection, animal welfare, consumers‘ behavior, market development, quality
of food products, regulations, certification and labeling.
Moreover, organic agriculture should be regarded as a potential tool for the strengthening of the
Euro-Mediterranean relationships; in fact, it is one of the priorities of the Euro-Med cooperation
in agriculture, as reported by art 16 of the conclusions of the Euro-Med Ministerial conference
on agriculture of Venice (2003) (Lacirignola, 2004): “the community has played a leading role
in determining the legislative aspects on organic farming (…), and could share know-how and
experience in this field with its Mediterranean partners”.
Within this scenario, some strategic lines should be set up for organic farming development in
the Mediterranean region.
The primary task is to develop locally a culture of organic farming relating not only to the
production but also to the market, social and land-related issues.
Secondly, the adoption of a national legislation in each state is essential to harmonies the
international rules in view of the mutual recognition of the regulations of different countries
(principle of equivalence).
The ultimate goal is to institutionalize the certification and inspection system and to define a
national regulatory system, with the governments in charge of supervising (via planning and coordination
activities) the whole certification and inspection system on the production, processing
and marketing of organic products.
Moreover, it is also necessary to set out the rules for the application of basic standards unified at
the Mediterranean level for organic products in order to define the basic guarantee requirements
for consumers.
It is necessary to define a policy to support the establishment of organic producers‘ associations
aimed at enhancing and concentrating the supply. It is therefore necessary to disseminate the
technical knowledge on the organic production method in order to avoid production losses and
to guarantee basic quality standards especially during the conversion period.
At the same time, the public institutions should take actions and start up programs designed to
enhance the production and national consumption. This would have great benefits for the public