IFOAM, the world wide umbrella organisation of the organic agriculture
movement with 740 member organisations in 103 countries has official
consultative status with the UN/CSD as well as with FAO. IFOAM actively
promotes organic agriculture systems at the international level, e.g. at the
FAO/SARD den Bosch Conference in 1991, the UNCED conference in 1992 with
its subsequent CSD meetings and in the context of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission guidelines for organic agriculture.
Sustainable agriculture? - Commitment and progress is lacking
The growing ecological and socio-economic crisis of agriculture continues to
result in the marginalisation of farmers world wide, but mainly in
Third-World countries at an increasingly alarming rate. This state of
affairs is caused mainly by the ever quickening impetus of globalisation,
its attendant hi-tech industrialisation processes and reconfiguration of
powerful market forces. The actions taken by international organisations and
governments to remedy the situation often remain too rhetorical, meagre and
fragmented. The commitment to sustainable agriculture made at the Earth
Summit still lacks more concrete movements towards implementation on all
public sector levels. Often old and non-sustainable concepts of agriculture
development have just been renamed or get simply "green washed".
The world will grow organically
Organic agriculture is experiencing rapid world wide growth through the
creative energy of thousands of grass root organisations, farmers and
traders. In some countries we also see astonishing support from the public
sector and governments. A lot can be learnt from countries like Finland,
Sweden, Switzerland and Austria, where organic agriculture has already a 6
to 10% share in total farming and farmland. Many good examples also exist in
developing countries. For example in Uganda thousands of farmers practise
organic agriculture especially for cotton production. Ten thousands of
"campesinos" in Mexico have sound incomes today and good perspectives for
the future because they grow organic products such as coffee and sell it in
the fair trade and organic market. In Egypt the best selling herb teas are
certified organic and are sold in 9,000 shops and pharmacies. In Asia,
countries that have a developed organic agriculture, include among others
Japan, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The few examples in the "taking
stock" document (case studies 12, 14 and 24) give only a very little glimpse
on the contributions of the organic movement to "Sustainable Agriculture and
Rural Development" (SARD). All over the world one finds "organic" growth
rates in the range of 20 - 30% annually. If this rate of growth continues
within a decade a number of countries will have the majority of their land
and food markets in organic!
PTO
MFCAL - Organic agriculture has incorporated the "multifunctional" framework
>From its very beginning the organic agriculture movement has been built on
what we call "holistic" concepts incorporating the "Multifunctional
Character of Agriculture and Land" (MFCAL). These concepts are reflected in
IFOAM´s membership, which besides organic farmer associations, includes also
processor, trade, consumer, environmental and training organisations. The
SARD approach aims for sustainability that "concerns land, water, plant and
animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically
appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable". Organic
agriculture with its holistic principles has a record of consequence and
excellence in implementing the SARD aims. In fact, issues such as long-term
soil fertility, maximum use and recycling of renewable energy, locally
adapted techniques, fair wages, and viability of rural enterprises have
always been key elements of organic management.
Conclusions and proposals for action
Too much confusion has been created by not clearly defining, in
operational terms, the concepts of "sustainable" agriculture. The lack of
workable indicators is perceived as a major gap, yet sustainability
indicators have been developed in physical (organic) and social-economical
(fair trade) terms. For over 20 years IFOAM has expertise in organic
standard setting (e.g. for production, processing, cotton/fibres) and is now
registered by ISO as an international standard setting body. Organic
farming, with its ecological standards and quality guarantee system through
certification and accreditation, is the most precisely defined and
controlled form of agriculture. It's logical, therefore, to conclude
"organic agriculture is sustainability put into practise".
To give the environmental and social components of the MAFCL framework
a real chance, it will be necessary to increase the efforts in introducing
environmental and social accounting (based on internalisation of costs).
Appropriate incentive programmes for conversion to organic agriculture have
to be increased- always based on organic production standards. Given the
voluntary character of organic agriculture, it´s important to stress that
ultimate responsibility for setting our ecological and social standards must
stay within the private sector. The government's role should concentrate on
enforcement mechanisms of these standards. Expanded free trade without
organic standards will only accelerate environmental and social "dumping",
the mining of soils and the further destruction of whole ecosystems and
rural communities.
On 29 January 1999 the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) adopted a
report, which concluded among others "that many aspects of organic farming
were important elements of a system approach to sustainable food production"
and recognised "the environmental and potential health benefits of organic
agriculture and its contribution of innovative production technologies to
other agriculture systems and to the overall goals of sustainability". The
fact that COAG supported the proposal "to give the practise associated with
organic agriculture a place within sustainable agriculture programmes" and
that it endorsed "the development of an organisation-wide and cross
-sectoral programme in organic agriculture" provides a good platform for the
debates and documents of the upcoming CSD review on agriculture.
The organic movement as represented by IFOAM expects FAO and the upcoming
CSD session on agriculture next year:
*To examine the solution potential of organic agriculture more closely.
* To work towards a better understanding of how organic agriculture meets
the framework of MFCAL.
* To strengthen the links and cooperation between goverments and NGO´s from
the organic sector on national and international level.
* To ensure that the acknowledgement for organic farming made by FAO (COAG
and the Council) will be taken to the CSD.
September 1999, Tholey-Theley, Germany
Ronald Nigh
Dana, A.C.
Mexico, D.F. & San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas
Tel. y FAX 525-666-73-66 (DF)
529-678-72-15 (Chiapas)
danamex@mail.internet.com.mx
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