unctad.org | Organic Agriculture

Organic Agriculture

Organic Agriculture (OA) offers a range of environmental, social and economic benefits for developing countries.

On the economic side, growing world markets for OA products offer interesting export opportunities for developing countries who may have some comparative advantage in OA due to relatively abundant labour and lower use of agrochemicals.

In addition, OA production has been shown to have a positive effect on the local environment, biodiversity and soil fertility, and has the potential to increase the yields and incomes of subsistence farmers in developing countries who are not currently using agrochemicals, thus contributing to poverty reduction and sustainable rural development.

UNCTAD supports interested countries through country projects and thematic research studies aimed at developing win-win policy options through promoting OA and easing access of organic products in overseas markets.

Meetings and Events

Start Date	Title	Location	Country
18-20 Nov 2009	Burundi Awareness Raising and Training Workshop	Bujumbura	Burundi
09 Aug 2009	Ethiopian Organic Forum: Public Private Partnership	Addis Ababa	Ethiopia
06 Oct 2009	Ethiopian Stakeholder Meeting	Addis Ababa	Ethiopia
13-14 Feb 2012	FAO/IFOAM/UNCTAD International Conference on Global Organic Market Access in 2012 and beyond	Nuremberg
23 Mar 2012	First Lao Organic Agriculture Forum	Vientiane City	Lao People’s Democratic Republic
10-12 Jun 2015	Fourth Lao Organic Agriculture Forum (LOAF 4)	Vientiane	Lao People’s Democratic Republic
20-21 Mar 2012	Lao Project Technical Workshop March 2012	Luang Prabang	Lao People’s Democratic Republic
30 Nov-01 Dec 2009	Rwandan Organic Stakeholder Workshop	Gicumbi	Rwanda
02-04 May 2012	Second African Organic Conference: Mainstreaming organic agriculture in the African development agenda	Lusaka, Zambia	Zambia
10-11 Dec 2012	Second Lao Organic Agriculture Forum	Luang Prabang	Lao People’s Democratic Republic
28 Aug 2009	Tanzanian National Stakeholder Meeting	Dar es Salaam	United Republic of Tanzania
14-15 Jul 2014	The Third Lao Organic Agriculture Forum (LOAF 3)	Vientiane	Lao People’s Democratic Republic
05-09 Oct 2015	Third African Organic Agriculture Conference	Lagos	Nigeria
10 Dec 2015	United Nations trade cluster partners discuss progress in strengthening linkages between sustainable agriculture and tourism in Tanzania	Dar es Salaam	United Republic of Tanzania
08 Jun 2011	Working Group Meeting of the UNCTAD, IFOAM and GlobalG.A.P. Secretariats on Reviewing Options to Reduce Costs of Organic and GlobalGAP Certification	Bonn	Germany

Publications

Financing Organic Agriculture in Africa: Mapping the Issues (UNCTAD/WEB/DITC/TED/2016/6)

08 Aug 2016, 1057.4 KB

Enhancing Linkages Between Tourism and the Sustainable Agriculture Sectors in the United Republic of Tanzania (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2015/4)

18 Sep 2015, 3668.6 KB

Enhancing Backward Linkages between Tourism and Other Sectors in Lao People's Democratic Republic (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2014/4)

20 Jan 2015, 1885.2 KB

Sustainable agriculture and food security in LDCs, UNCTAD Policy Brief, No. 20 (c) (UNCTAD/PRESS/PB/2011/6)

08 May 2011, 2 page(s), 861.0 KB

Scoping Study for Equivalence and Harmonization of Organic Standards and Technical Regulations in the Asia Region (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2010/7)

20 Dec 2010, 50 page(s), 2054.0 KB

Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture - Volume 6 (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2009/1)

01 May 2009, 1150.7 KB

Sustaining African Agriculture - Organic Production, UNCTAD Policy Brief, No. 6 (UNCTAD/PRESS/PB/2009/1/rev.1)

09 Feb 2009, 2 page(s), 496.0 KB

Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture - Volume 5 (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2008/3)

01 Oct 2008, 847.3 KB

Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/15)

30 Sep 2008, 61 page(s), 475.0 KB

Private-Sector Standards and National Schemes for Good Agricultural Practices: Implications for Exports of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables from sub-Saharan Africa - Experiences of Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/13)

29 Feb 2008, 126 page(s), 1755.0 KB

Best Practices for Organic Policy - What developing country Governments can do to promote the organic agriculture sector (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/3)

31 Jan 2008, 105 page(s), 636.0 KB

Certified organic export production: Implications for economic welfare and gender equality among smallholder farmers in tropical Africa (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/7)

31 Jan 2008, 20 page(s), 92.0 KB

Challenges and Opportunities Arising from Private Standards on Food Safety and Environment for Exporters of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables in Asia: Experiences of Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/6)

31 Dec 2007, 114 page(s), 2171.0 KB

The Implications of Private-Sector Standards for Good Agricultural Practices - Exploring Options to Facilitate Market Access for Developing-country Exporters of Fruit and Vegetables: Experiences of Argentina, Brazil and Costa Rica (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/2)

30 Sep 2007, 73 page(s), 816.0 KB

Hamonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture. Volume 4 (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/14)

06 Jun 2007, 1211.1 KB

Food Safety and Environmental Requirements in Export Markets - Friend or Foe for Producers of Fruit and Vegetables in Asian Developing Countries? (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2006/8)

31 May 2007, 134 page(s), 1148.0 KB

Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture - Volume 3 (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/1)

06 Jan 2007, 233 page(s), 749.0 KB

OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT STATE OF ORGANIC AGRICULTURE IN KENYA, UGANDA AND THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA AND THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR REGIONAL HARMONIZATION by Alastair Taylor, Agro-Eco Uganda Branch (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2005/16)

30 Nov 2006, 65 page(s), 796.0 KB

STRATEGY ON SOLUTIONS FOR HARMONIZING INTERNATIONAL REGULATION OF ORGANIC AGRICULTURE (Volume 2) (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2005/15)

31 Aug 2006, 95 page(s), 1820.0 KB

Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture - Vol. 1 (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2005/4)

01 Feb 2005, 695.5 KB

Page 1 of 2, items 1 to 20 of 25

News

01 June 2017Organic Farming and its Economic Opportunities in East Africa, Arusha International Conference Center, Tanzania (1-2 June 2017)

Organic farming is a growing industry in East Africa, and tourism and agriculture are important contributors to economic growth in the region.

24 August 2016Organic farming in Africa has rich potential, but is increasingly underfunded

Organic farming offers an excellent and lucrative export opportunity for Africa, but access to finance is harder to come by than five years ago, an UNCTAD survey has found.

23 August 2016Nutmeg revival helps Aceh, Indonesia, recover after years of conflict

The revival of nutmeg farming has generated jobs and economic opportunity in the post-conflict Indonesian province of Aceh and is still helping to consolidate peace in the region as much as a decade after the end of the insurgency, says a new UNCTAD study, Sustaining Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Recovery Through BioTrade.

14 October 2015With markets for organic produce booming, African farmers and other stakeholders gather to discuss reaping the benefits

Farmers, researchers, academics, policy makers, entrepreneurs and representatives of African organic movements gathered at the Third African Organic Agriculture Conference, in Lagos, Nigeria, 5-9 October 2015.