Law on organic farming coming soon in Belarus

The law on organic farming may be passed in Belarus in 2014, Nikolai Ivanchenko, head of the Initiative group, vice-chairman of the permanent commission on ecology, environmental management and the Chernobyl disaster of the House of Representatives, told reporters.

The MP said that organic farming is very important in the world today. More and more people prefer organic food. “Production of ecologically clean food increases every year. For example, in China the annual growth is about 20%. Chinese import of organic food to Europe reaches $6 billion. This is a big economy, and our country cannot stand aside, it must also participate in this process,” said Nikolai Ivanchenko. According to him, this is an extremely important task for Belarus. Belarus can set up a harmonious system for the production of organic products by bringing together MPs and all agencies concerned, according to the MP.

“This system must provide for the certification of goods, production facilities, training. We need to develop the bill on organic or ecological agriculture, and on organic products,” said Nikolai Ivanchenko. Russia is now creating appropriate regulatory framework. It has been developed in the countries of the European Union. There are draft model laws in CIS countries. "We must also participate in this process,” said Nikolai Ivanchenko. For the time being Belarus is lagging behind in this regard.

He said the MPs will seek to adopt the law on organic farming in 2014. Pursuant to the orders of the head of state on the development of organic agriculture in Belarus, the government has already adopted a relevant resolution, developed a plan of activities for the production of organic food products.

The MP stressed that organic farming would help the country preserve one of its main resources – land. Today farmers use various chemicals, mineral fertilizers that leave a negative effect on soil. Organic farming is one of the ways to maintain soil fertility. Besides, eco-friendly production will help conserve the nature, improve people’s health and the demographic situation in the country.

“We will take foreign experience into account, it is valuable and important for us,” the MP said. In particular, Belarus shows interest in the practices of the Scandinavian and Baltic states. Today the House of Representatives hosted a roundtable to assess the efficiency of the implementation of the project of international technical assistance in organic farming in the Republic of Belarus. The meeting was attended by Belarusian MPs, executives and specialists of the Agriculture and Food Ministry, the State Science and Technology Committee, the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee, the Myadel District Executive Committee, representatives of the institutes under the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, state and public environmental associations, the International Sakharov Environmental University, Belarusian agrarians and farmers from the Baltic states.

This has been the second roundtable on organic farming. The event is aimed at promoting cooperation and experience sharing between Sweden, Lithuania and Belarus in developing sustainable organic farming and permanent food communities for enhancing the level of knowledge in organic farming and its benefits for the nature of both Belarus and the Baltic region.

Director of the Baltic GenoFund Arunas Svitojus praised Belarus for its initiative and active participation in the discussion of the important issues such as organic farming, eco-friendly production. Arunas Svitojus noted that the country is a participant of the international technical assistance project BERAS Implementation “Baltic Ecological Recycling Agriculture and Society”. He did not rule out that Belarus may take part in other projects in the future.