Yearning to earn, organically
Three hundred years ago, an English fairy tale about a rural emigré played with the myth that the streets of London were paved with gold. Now it seems that people want to believe that the grocery shelves of London, New York, Milan and Tokyo are lined with gold too. They have a point, to some extent. Demand in the West for organic fruits and vegetables is enticing producers throughout the ACP regions and elsewhere to get organised and establish their foothold in the market of opportunity. More than 170 traders, producers, researchers and support agencies converged on Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in early October 2001 to do just that at a conference on diversifying regional exports through developing organic horticulture. They came from Cameroon, Malaysia, 17 Caribbean nations and departments, 11 countries of Central and South America, and eight countries of North America and Europe. The conference launched a new study on World Markets for Organic Fruit and Vegetables (see Publications) by FAO, the International Trade Centre of UNCTAD and WTO, and CTA. These bodies, together with the Centre for the Development of Enterprise, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, CAB International and Trinidad Ministry of Food Production and Marine Resources co-organised the event. Lively debates led to concrete proposals for national standards, regional certification, information services and special measures for smallholders wanting to switch to organic production. And what did they seem to miss out? Empirical studies in several Western cities at the end of 2001 indicated that the retail shelf space for organic produce is shrinking; maybe the market s growth is slowing down now. But a market it is, so catch it if you can.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2002
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/46440 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99600 |
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