The overall aim of the project is to clarify how certified organic farming can reduce local as well as global adverse environmental impacts while improving the living conditions for small-scale farmers in developing countries.
Preliminary results
For metropolises in Egypt, Brazil and China, there is considerable growth in locally produced organic products via locally organised chains. The locally organised chains are typically based on large-scale and specialised production. Resource-poor farmers have difficulties in accessing these markets and thus have limited benefit from the development. These factors weaken the importance of organic farming both in the fight against poverty and as an environmental asset in these countries.
Overall, the organic production is organised according to the logic of the customers with focus on specialised production and substitution of non-organic input for a given crop with an organic input. In this way, organic production only to a smaller extent supports agroecological farming principles. It should not be underestimated, however, that chemical spraying is avoided, which has a significant positive effect on the health of the involved producers compared to conventional production.
There is a considerable difference in how organic farming is supported in the different countries, from support over a wide front with research, development, etc. in, for example, Brazil, to primarily concentrating on sorting out certification procedures in, for example, China.
