Czech Republic: Yearbook 2007 on organic farming shows continued growth

The 2007 yearbook on organic farming in the Czech Republic has now been published by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic in cooperation with Bioinstitut. The yearbook is available in English and in Czech.

The new yearbook on organic farming in the Czech Republic has now been published by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic in cooperation with Bioinstitut. The yearbook is available in English and in Czech.

In 2007, organic farming in the Czech Republic showed considerable development. As of December 31, 2007, the share of organically farmed land was - with 312'890 hectares - approximately 7.35 % of the total agricultural land, most of the land being grassland. Comapred withthe previous year, the arable land grew by nearly 6'000 hectares to a total of 29'505 hectares. The greatest increase occurred in vineyards which grew from 18.9 hectares in 2006 to 245 hectares. Compared with 2006, the number of organic farmers increased by 355 farms to a total of 1'318 organic farms.

The considerable increase in interest in organic agriculture is mainly due to the the payments for organic farmers and organic food producers under the new Rural Development Program (EAFRD, 2007 - 2013).

Another important aspect is the increased demand for organic raw materials from producers of organic foodstuffs, caused by growing interest from abroad.

With regard to marketing and general promotion of organic food, various retail chains launched massive consumer campaigns promoting their own brands of organic food, and this played an essential role in 2007.

One of the sustainable production and consumption programs prepared in 2007 was the “Organic Farming and Organic Food Program, which was approved by the Council of the Czech Government on May 10, 2007. This program defines numerous measures for supporting the development of organic farming and the consumption of organic food in the Czech Republic. The implementation of these measures has been estimated to require approximately CZK 10 million annually. The program will be launched in 2008.

Further information

Contact

Karolína Dytrtová
Bioinstitut,o.p.s., Institute for Ecological Agriculture and Sustainable Landscape Development
Krížkovského 8
77147 Olomouc
Czech Republic
Tel.: +420 585 631 178
E-mail
www.bioinstitut.cz

Links

2007 Yearbook: Organic farming in the Czech Republic

Organic-World.Net: Czech Republic