Organic farming vital for raising incomes, improving health

[S.Annadana]

19 Aug 2008
By Austin Beyadi

The term `organic` is best thought of as referring to the concept of the farm as an organism, in which all the component parts - the soil minerals, organic matter, micro-organisms, insects, plants, animals and humans - interact to create a coherent and stable whole.

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on crop rotation, green manure, compost, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation to maintain soil productivity and control pests, excluding or strictly limiting the use of synthetic fertilizers and synthetic pesticides, plant growth regulators, livestock feed additives, and genetically modified.

Organic farming can be defined as an approach to agriculture where the aim is to create integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural production systems.

The role of organic agriculture, whether in farming, processing, distribution, or consumption, is to sustain and enhance the health of ecosystems and organisms from the smallest in the soil to human beings.

Since 1990 the market for organic products has grown at a rapid pace, averaging 20-25 percent per year to reach USD 33 billion in 2005.

This demand has driven a similar increase in organically managed farmland with approximately 306,000 square kilometres (30.6 million hectares) worldwide are now farmed organically, representing approximately 2 percent of total world farmland. In addition, as of 2005 organic wild products were farmed on approximately 62 million hectares.

Organic agricultural methods are internationally regulated and legally enforced by many nations, based in large part on the standards set by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), an international umbrella organisation for organic organisations established in 1972.

The organic movement began in the 1930s and 1940s as a reaction to agriculture`s growing reliance on synthetic fertilizers.

Artificial fertilizers had been created during the 18th century, initially with super phosphates and then ammonia derived fertilizers mass-produced using the Haber-Bosch process developed during World War I.

In an effort to encourage organic farming in the country Tanzania Organic Certification Association (TanCert) has been involving itself in creating awareness on the environmental consequences which may be caused from synthetic fertilizers and synthetic pesticides.

TanCert is the sole body that provides services for inspection, certification and quality assurance for organic products in Tanzania.

Through the member organisations, TanCert draws on experience in the field of organic agriculture for over one century; since 1898 when the first organic garden in Africa was established at Peramiho, south of Tanzania.

TanCert provides inspection and certification services, TanCert member organisations provide local training activities to farmers, producers, processors, traders and exporters about organic products certification and standardisation.

According to TanCert General Manager, Leonard Mtama, the association is operating according to organic short standards that focus local market and TanCert organic standards for export market.

Both were developed through stakeholders consultation based on IFOAM Basic Standards to which most of the certification bodies around the world are accredited, he said.

TanCert certification programme aims at bringing clarity to stakeholders of organic sector through organic standards development and facilitating the marketing of organic products and the programme further provides third party verification of conformity to applicable organic standards, he noted.

In many European countries, organic agriculture is known as ecological agriculture, reflecting this reliance on ecosystem management rather than external inputs.

TanCert Board Chairperson Loyce Lema outlined that organic farming is about protecting the long term fertility of soils by maintaining organic matter levels, encouraging soil biological activity, and careful mechanical interventions.

She said organic farming aims at providing crop nutrients indirectly using relatively insoluble nutrient sources which are made available to the plant by the action of soil micro-organisms and nitrogen self-sufficiency through the use of legumes and biological nitrogen fixation, as well as effective recycling of organic materials including crop residues and livestock manures.

The main reasons farmers grow organically are concerns about the effects of chemicals on health and the effects of conventional farming on soil quality and conservation, she noted.

Some farmers view organic farming as part of the solution to meeting the challenges of modern day agriculture. Organic farmers find their method of farming to be profitable and personally rewarding.

Organic farming is a science within itself that conventional farmers can learn while they transfer their capital resources and skills to master a trade that can be even more profitable than conventional farming.

Organic farms can support substantially higher levels of wildlife especially in lowlands and where animals can roam pastures or graze on grassland. This kind of farming does not only benefi wildlife , but entire ecosystems.

``Organic farming promotes soils that are teaming with life and rich in micro nutrients which can be used for decades to grow crops virtually year round in many parts of the world, `` says Lema, adding that organically grown products are free from harmful chemicals, artificial flavors and preservatives that ultimately cost consumers money when they purchase non-organically grown products.

* SOURCE: Guardian