Building the Future in Organic Farming (Part 1)

Presented in this report are highlights of the results from the 12th global survey on organic agriculture 20111 leveraging on the Asia region. The survey was carried out between July 2010 and February 2011 from 160 countries (up from 154 countries in 2008). Data were provided by almost 200 country experts, i.e. representatives from NGOs, certification bodies, governments and researchers. The results are published in the yearbook ‘The World of Organic Agriculture 2011’ and at www.organic-world.net.

Presented in Chart 1 is the distribution of organic agricultural land by region (as of end of 2009). The data shows that the greatest share of the global agricultural land is in Oceania which is at 32.6 percent or managing 12.2 million hectares of organic agricultural land, followed by Europe at 24.9 percent or 9.3 million hectares, and Latin America at 23 percent or 8.6 million hectares. The region of Asia is nearly 3.6 million hectares that constitutes 9.6 percent of the world’s organic agricultural land. North America manages almost 2.7 million hectares or at 7.1 percent, then followed by Africa at slightly more than a million hectares that constitutes 2.8 percent of the world’s organic agricultural land. By far, the countries of Australia, Argentina and the US have the most organic agricultural land at 12 million, 4.40 million, and 1.95 million hectares respectively as presented in Chart 2. From 1999 to 2009, the world development in organic agricultural land has increased by 26.2 percent as seen in Chart 3 or an average of 2.6 percent growth per year for the past decade.

Chart 1

Chart 2

Chart 3

According to Organic Monitor2, since 1990, the global market for organic products has grown from nothing, reaching US$55 billion3 in 2009. This demand has driven a similar increase in organically managed farmland. Approximately 37,000,000 hectares (91,428,991 acres) worldwide are now farmed organically, representing approximately 0.9 percent of total world farmland. The largest amount of organic products is sold in Europe and North America. The trend in the global market for the organic food and drink is recovering from the repercussions of the economic crisis. Single-digit market growth was observed for the first time in 2009 due to economic slowdown reducing industry investment as well as spending power among consumers. The sales of organic food and drink expanded by roughly five percent to US$54.9 billion in 2009. Global revenues have increased over three-fold from US$18 billion in 2000 and double-digit growth rates were observed each year, except in 2009. Healthy growth rates are foreseen to restart as consumer spending power rises and as more countries come out of economic recession. The countries with the largest markets are the US, Germany, and France; the highest per capita consumption is Denmark, Switzerland, and Austria.

The region of Asia as mentioned earlier has a total organic agricultural area nearly at 3.6 million hectares which is a 0.7 percent increase from 2007 (2.9 million) to 2009 as seen in Chart 4. The country that provides the largest share of organic agricultural land is China which is at 1.9 million hectares followed by India at 1.2 million hectares and Kazakhstan at 134,862. Timor-Leste has the most organic agricultural area as a proportion to its total agricultural land which is almost at seven percent. The Philippines on the other hand has an estimated organic agricultural land at 52,546 hectares or 0.45 percent share of the total agricultural land area of the country as seen on Chart 5.

Chart 4

Chart 5

The region of Asia hosts a wide range of organic sector development scenarios, from early development to highly regulated. Far from the marginal position it held previously, organic is now an accepted concept and growing market trend in the region. Whilst export remains the dominant feature of sector development in the majority of developing countries in the region, local markets have emerged and are gaining ground. Primarily a market driven sector, government policy is an emerging and significant sector development factor today in many countries. Although domestic market size is still relatively small, the high value and profile associated with organic has led to civil society (consumer) calls and governments’ interest to regulate the sector. Seven markets have implemented organic labeling regulations (i.e., China, India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia). Others, Sri Lanka and Nepal have established government competent authorities. Thailand and Indonesia have also established accreditation systems.

References:
1 Helga Willer and Lukas Kilcher (Eds.) 2011: The World of Organic Agriculture. Statistics and Emerging Trends 2011. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), Bonn, and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick. ISBN 978-3-940946-83-6 (IFOAM) und ISBN 978-3- 03736-192-4 (FiBL)
2 Organic Monitor, organicmonitor.com
3 US dollar = 0.71895 Euros = 48.250985 PHP; average exchange rate 2009, Source: oanda.com/lang/de/currency/average