A bit of statistics: Just one in millions

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Authors

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Date Issued

2002

Language

Type

News Item

Accessibility

Open Access

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Citation

CTA. 2002. A bit of statistics: Just one in millions. Spore 97. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Permanent link to cite or share this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/46442

External link to download this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99600

Abstract/Description

Notes

Amid all the flurry about organic agriculture, just how much land is dedicated to this version of sound farming? Well, it depends on the definition but according to an extensive survey by the German-based Ecology and Agriculture Foundation. Australia leads with 7.6 million hectares, followed by Argentina (3 million) and Italy (1 million). Big areas maybe, but when expressed as a percentage of the total arable land they are far from stunning often mere pin-pricks on the map. The highest levels although still tiny are in Europe where organic methods are well organised, and registered. Papua New Guinea and Suriname head the list of ACP countries in that respect. The picture for Africa needs some adjusting. In the survey, data about registered practices were scarce, but the compilers recognise that in any case much of Africa s agricultural production complies with the standards for organic agriculture. Produce is rarely certified, since that is quite costly. The interest in Africa for organised organic agriculture is nonetheless growing, attracted by premium prices on the international market. Making comparisons between countries in different regions is not really indicative, add the compilers, because of differences in production intensity and crops. [caption to illustration] How much of a country s arable land surface is certified organic?