The Hindu Business Line : FAO aqua meet to focus on organic methods

AS more and more markets across the world become conscious of environmental health issues, especially pertaining to the food that they consume, the FAO is conducting a Global Technical and Trade Conference on Organic Aquaculture and Sea Farming 2004 in Vietnam.

The impetus for organic food production has come from a variety of food-related incidents such as the outbreak of the mad cow disease, pesticide residues in food and the advent of genetically modified organisms, according to a note prepared for the conference.

Organic farming has become a special and unique form of value addition, as the consumers of organic products are prepared to pay a substantial premium for them, compared to conventional products.

The conference has got greater relevance for India because of the country's extensive coastline, diverse climatic conditions and varied bounties of the seas that it harnesses, according to sources in the seafood export trade.

This is over and above the large volume and value that it harvests from various forms of aquaculture.

Over the last decade, organic food has emerged as one of the most dynamic sectors of the international food market. Many countries have shown remarkable growth in the demand for organic food. Demand for organic food from Denmark and Sweden has grown by 30-40 per cent, while in the UK it has grown by 20-30 per cent.

The international market for organic food was estimated at $20 billion in 2000. The largest single market was the US with around $10 billion followed by Europe with $9 billion and Japan with $1.5 billion.

Infofish, the inter-Governmental organisation providing marketing information and technical advisory and consultancy to the fisheries, and the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters are the other organisers of the conference.