The federal state of Kerala in the south-west of Indian has, like a number of the country\u2019s other federal states, done a lot to promote organic agriculture. However, the bottleneck continues to be the still limited access to the market, especially for cooperatives and small independent firms. The producers are predominantly small farmers who grow a wide variety of crops on 1- 3 hectares. The difficulty often lies in coordinating demand and targeted marketing. A further obstacle is not infrequently logistics. According to the research institute Forschungsinstitut Biologischer Landbau FiBL, 36% of organic farmers worldwide live in Asia, where many of them are the source of a range of organic raw materials for markets in the west.<\/p>\n
ICCOA organises successful B2B lounge<\/strong><\/p>\n With the particular aim of facilitating and strengthening direct contact between producers and buyers of raw materials the organic association\u00a0ICCOA (International Competence Center for Organic Agriculture)<\/em>\u00a0again organised\u00a0 buyer-seller meetings at the trade fair. More than 270 discussions between exhibitors and 23 buyers from Europe, the USA, the Middle East, Asia and India took place in the lounge specifically set up for that purpose.<\/p>\n The\u00a0ICCOA<\/em>\u00a0cooperates with governments and private organisations from at least 14 Indian states in order to promote the organic sector, to encourage authorities and ministries to provide support and to train farmers. \u201cYear after year, we\u2019re pleased to help organise this trade fair,\u201d explained\u00a0ICCOA<\/em>\u00a0Managing Director Manoj Menon, who is also the vice-president of the IFOAM-Asia-Group.\u00a0 As well as the exhibition and the conference, these matchmaking-discussions were the focal point for him and the\u00a0ICCOA<\/em>\u00a0team. Menon estimates the value of the business transacted at around the equivalent of US$ 8.7m (+8 % compared with last year).<\/p>\n Creating awareness in farmers, schoolchildren and consumers<\/strong><\/p>\n Sonia Prashar, Managing Director\u00a0N\u00fcrnbergMesse India<\/em>, was particularly pleased that they had again succeeded in making classes of schoolchildren and end consumers aware of the organic theme. She said the trade fair was an event that was performing a huge educational role and was fixing the whole theme of organic in people\u2019s minds. A part of this task was to persuade more farmers to convert to organic. For example, on the second day an information event was held for Indian farmers to convince them about organic farming, to explain marketing strategies for organic products and to show them development opportunities in the organic market. Again this year, the trade fair catering Organic Food Court enabled people to taste the difference between organic and conventional food. Here exhibitors and visitors could try for themselves the cuisine of both north and south India. On the last day the already well established Consumer Connect Programm was held, in which130 schoolchildren took part. Nutritionists drew this young target group\u2019s attention to the benefits of an organic lifestyle.<\/p>\n Getting politicians involved is what is needed<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Tej Partap, Vice-Chancellor of the\u00a0Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology<\/em>\u00a0in Srinagar (Kashmir), declared in his address: \u201cI didn\u2019t believe we could achieve so much in the organic sector in India. The movement has grown principally because entrepreneurs, scientists and politicians have supported the issue of organics. The example of Sikkim shows \u201chow splendidly a project can develop when the government sets goals and pursues them consistently,\u201d he maintained. \u201cPeople who don\u2019t join the organic sector today will regret it later,\u201d was Dr. Tej Partap\u2019s prediction. His message was therefore \u201cIndia has to grow organic.\u201c At the same time, he called on politicians to invest more in the organic sector.<\/p>\n Picture: Raj Seelam, the founder of Sresta, one of the biggest organic companies in India<\/span><\/p>\n Multiplicity of raw materials and growth of professional firms<\/strong><\/p>\n Some Indian companies have already made a name for themselves with their products in the organic markets in the west. Brands like\u00a0<\/span>Sresta Organics, Sunstar Organics, Radico, Nature Biofoods, Agronic Foods, Organic Tattva, Amaara Foods, Rapid Organics, MRT Organics, Plantrich Agritech, Camson Bio-technologies, Network of Asia and Pacific Producers, Sarveshwar Organic Foods Ltd., Agronic International, Bioagri Corp<\/em>\u00a0and other companies\u00a0 were very satisfied with\u00a0<\/span>BIIO<\/em>. Also newcomers like\u00a0<\/span>Dhatu Organics,<\/em>Brahm Arpan<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Amaara Foods<\/em>\u00a0experienced a successful premiere. Supported by the organic textile organisation<\/span>Global Organic Textile Standard<\/em>, firms like\u00a0<\/span>Paramount Textiles, Organic Weaves, Ishta<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Balavigna Weaving Mills<\/em>\u00a0took part in the trade fair.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n BioFach 2016: Indian Pavilion<\/strong><\/p>\n From 10 \u2013 14 February 2016 the following Indian firms will be represented in Hall 5.215\u00a0 and in the Vivaness Hall 7A.<\/p>\n Source: <\/strong>Organic-Market.Info The Indian organic market and in particular production have developed rapidly in recent years. India’s 650,000 organic farmers make it the country with the highest number of farmers actively involved in organic production in the world. For the seventh time, BioFach India together with India Organic (BIIO) brought producers and traders together. At the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":7904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5210],"tags":[1343,2149],"class_list":["post-7908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest-organic-news","tag-biofach","tag-india"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"160203](\"https:\/\/www.bioecoactual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/160203_NOrganicMarket2.jpg_2102391413.jpg\")
Two founders of big Indian organic companies – Raj Seelam (Sresta<\/em>) and Tapan Ray (Nature Bio Foods<\/em>) \u2013 argued in favour of putting more pressure on politicians. On the one hand, the internal market has to be extended \u2013 both entrepreneurs are convinced by the growing interest of consumers in their own country. On the other, it\u2019s a question of improving the lives of thousands of farmers by means of organic farming. The German Consul in Bangalore, J\u00f6rn Rohde, was keen to attend the opening ceremony and then to have a good look round the exhibition. In his welcoming address he spoke about German-Indian cooperation and said that in this context he could see a good opportunity for an exchange of knowledge in the organic sector.<\/p>\n
\nAuthor:<\/strong> Karin Heinze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"