Organic agriculture – with a constantly growing global market worth over 80 billion euros in 2016 – is also becoming increasingly important in low-income countries. While organic has the largest certified area world-wide and in low-income countries, other Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) such as Fairtrade, UTZ, or Rainforest Alliance are also gaining in importance. Currently, at least 25 percent of the global coffee production and 9 percent of the global cotton is certified according to one of the major VSS (including organic). 
At this session, FiBL experts will present the latest data on the status of organic farming and other VSS, with a focus on selected commodities, and the development impact of these standards for low income countries will be discussed.  

Introduction:

Christophe Larose, Head of Sector Sustainable agriculture and innovation, DEVCO C1 - Rural Development, Food Security, Nutrition

Presentations:

Beate Huber, Deputy director, FiBL
Julia Lernoud, Department of Extension, Training and Communication, FiBL

Conference Language: English
Language Q&A session: English

Venue: rue de la Loi 43-45, Ground floor, Brussels