Wednesday, 8 February 2017

A small but significant victory for Ukraine’s organic farmers

The development of Ukraine’s organic sector took a positive step forward yesterday when the Committee on Agrarian Policy recommend the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) support the draft bill on organic farming at the first reading.

It’s not clear, to me at least, if this means adopting the draft bill is now a formality or it could still be held up or rejected by the Verkhovna Rada, though for what purpose would be a mystery.

After the meeting the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Olga Trofimtseva, said “so far, a small victory, but in case the Parliament [it] will be a big step for the development of the Ukrainian organic sector".

These developments, small as they may be, are significant in the development and future of the country but often get overlooked against the background of negative news about Ukraine.

Well done to all concerned, time to open a bottle of sparkling organic elder flower wine.

The development of the organic market is a priority for the Government and the agricultural sector development strategy known as "3 + 5".  The primary step is to improve the regulatory framework of organic production, handling and labelling to bring it in line with EU legislation.