Around 800 Mio. of the world’s poorest people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. For them, the improvement of their production system and marketing strategies is one of the most feasible although not the only option to improve their situation. This is why sustainable intensification is one of the key concepts of the agricultural policy of SDC. It means that agricultural producers intensify there system to produce with the same amount of inputs such as land, labor, water, energy, etc. more output, either in terms of income or in terms of physical products and this sustained over time and without degrading natural resources. The policy explicitly refers to organic farming as one of the possible ways to achieve sustainable intensification. On top of improved food quality and ecologically sound production with low use of capital intensive inputs, organic farming has the advantage of creating an agricultural quality label which allows for higher prices on the market and establishes a stronger relation between consumers and producers. The model has been copied by “conventional” agriculture and induced significant trends toward ecologically sound practices and novel marketing strategies in agriculture in general. Hence, organic agriculture contributes significantly to reaching the Millenium Goals 1 (hunger and poverty) and 7 (environment). However, medium to long term credibility of the label “organic” depends on proving the ecological, social and economic advantages of organic production over time.
In Switzerland, a world leader in organic production, consumption and research, the ecological, economical and social viability of alternative systems has been demonstrated in system comparisons (DOK-Trials for Dynamisch-Organisch-Konventionell) carried out by the Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau (FIBL) in collaboration with AGROSCOPE, the Swiss network of agricultural research institutions.
In poorer tropical countries, farming practices of small holders are often close to the organic ones, but often without resulting in interesting levels and stability of revenue. However, other examples such as intensive intercropping and mixed livestock/agriculture systems prove that stable levels of high output, basically without industrial inputs, are possible. Using the label “organic” and base future intensification on the principles of organic agriculture facilitates market integration and provides a concept to explicitly recognize traditional knowledge and guide innovation. However, agricultural policy makers in developing countries are hesitant to go beyond merely recognizing organic agriculture as a mode of production and provide specific support to it, e.g. by supporting organic extension and research, protecting organic labeling and finance specific capacity building. One of the reasons for this, is the lack of credible long-term data on the feasibility and advantages of organic agriculture in the tropics. This is why FIBL, in cooperation with local and international research and commercial partners proposes to establish long-term system comparisons in India, Kenya and Bolivia. The objectives are
(1) To strengthen the case for organic agriculture as a valid option for agricultural policy makers and farmers;
(2) To provide solid information on the benefits and limitations of organic agriculture as compared to conventional production systems. Expected outcomes are the recognition of organic agriculture and traditional knowledge, the formulation of polices which improve the legal and institutional frame conditions for organic agriculture, and the provision of solid facts about long-term benefits and limitations of organic production.
