Northern Cyprus and the Organic Food Movement

[S.Annadana]

Posted in The Real Estate Brokers Way by admin on the August 7th, 2008
Sales of organic products, products that range from bottles of red wine to packs of lentils and which are now ubiquitous in supermarkets in much of Europe, have grown rapidly since the early 1990s. After increasing in value by 20-25% each year the market is now worth around 33 billion US dollars. North Cyprus, in line with the rest of the world, is showing an increasing interest in the development of an organic food sector that relies on the production of food without the use of chemicals. Since its start in 2004 the organic agriculture sector has experienced a growth in both manufacture an in product diversity. The North has not experienced any problems marketing organic products though there is a 20% mark-up over similar products produced using traditional agricultural applications and composts. The most serious problem is that of the absence of product diversity and their continuation in the country. With the support given to the organic agriculture in 2004, the number of the organic manufacturers increased to 12 producing vegetables, fruit, honey and olive oil. 15 items covering vegetable and fruits that include olives, tomatoes, strawberries, watermelons, peppers, cucumbers and grapes have been marketed plus organically produced wine, honey and olive oil.