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June 25,
2004
Organic foods certification in the works
Lack of document blocks growth of agricultural export sector
Green Line, GTZ, World Vision, AUB's Healthy Basket, Agriculture Ministry are working
By Hanna Wettig
BEIRUT: Even if you shop in Beirut 's largest organic food store, you can't be sure that what you're buying is really organic.
That's because Elias Ayoub, owner of a completely self-supplying organic market in Achrafieh, doesn't get his produce certified, according to Ali Darwish from the environmental organization Green Line.
Ayoub, who was one of the first farmers in Lebanon to embrace pesticide free agriculture, is not alone among shop owners.
"Maybe 40 percent of what's sold as organic in Lebanon is certified or in a transitional period (waiting to be certified)," Darwish said.
To make things more difficult for consumers, some farmers have received a certificate from Qualite France , others from the Instituto Mediteraneo di Certificazione or organizations from other countries.
In a growing organic food market, the lack of a unified, reliable certificate is an increasing problem, not only for Lebanese consumers.
Without a proper certificate, Lebanese farmers cannot export their goods to Europe, North America or Japan , where more and more consumers are willing to pay premium prices for organic products.
This obstacle should be cleared soon, however.
The Lebanese Standards Institution (Libnor) recently approved an organic food certificate called Libancert.
Now, it is ready to be sent to the prime minister, who will then issue a decree.
Green Line has been working on the certificate since 2001, in cooperation with the German governmental development agency GTZ, World Vision, AUB's organic food project Healthy Basket, and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Based on European Union standards and a Tunisian certificate, Libancert will qualify fresh and processed organic crop products, livestock and livestock products and feedstuff.
According to Tony Matar, grant manager at World Vision Lebanon , a non-governmental relief and development organization, "It is very important to differentiate between natural and organic farming."
Certifying organizations not only check if a farmer produces pesticide-free foods, but they also make sure that he probes the soil to ensure that no pesticides or other pollutants are present. As such, a farmer may cultivate his land naturally, but if his fields are located next to a highway - where oil runoff and other pollutants are present - he may not be able to get his produce certified as organic.
Organic and natural agriculture is a steadily growing sector in Lebanon : While a 2001 report by the Middle East Center of Transfer of Appropriate Technology, only 30 to 40 farmers were cultivating organic food products, the number has now swelled to well over 100.
One World Vision project supervises 120 farmers alone, all of whom are members of the organic food cooperative Bioco-op Lubnan, which was founded by Green Line in 2001 in a bid to eliminate middle men. The cooperative, which is now under the patronage of World Vision, negotiates directly with potential buyers such as supermarket chains.
Green Line is involved in four pilot locations where organic herbs and vegetable crops are grown.
Altogether, 350 hectares of land are farmed organically.
Yet, while countries like Tunisia , Egypt and Israel are exporting extensively to the European Union, Lebanese farmers only produce for the local market.
That's because the governments of the three countries realized early on the potential that lay in organic food production.
They consequently initiated subsidy programs for farmers willing to convert.
Such start-up aid is essential, said Matar.
"We're talking about small farmers, who aren't even able to pay $350 for a certificate."
With funds from the US Agency for International Development, World Vision helps farmers do exactly that.
Which is good news since the potential for Lebanon in the market is high.
Already in 2000, SRI International, formerly Stanford Research Institute, published a study on high value-added agricultural products in Lebanon . The growing popularity of ethnic foods (such as hommus) and organic produce are of great relevance to Lebanon , SRI found.
"Small Lebanese family farms can be successful in this arena, because distributors are interested in handling organically-grown produce in smaller quantities than the regular produce."
However, it's not only the lack of a certificate that is hindering exports.
While buyers may be willing to put up with smaller producers, the producers still must sell a certain amount to make the business profitable.
Matar said he hoped the cooperative would soon sign their first contract with a supermarket chain in the Gulf.
Exporting to Europe though is a different matter.
Indeed, Lebanon lacks the logistics for fast deliveries. "There are no cargo flights," Matar explained. "You would have to send it with the passenger luggage to the EU."