Participatory Guarantee Systems in Organic Agriculture: THE IMPORTANCE OF INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS

1. www.fao.org/ag/ags
Participatory Guarantee
Systems in Organic Agriculture
THE IMPORTANCE OF
INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS
3eme Conférence Ouest Africaine sur l’agriculture
biologique
Cotonou, Bénin 27-29 août 2014
Dr. Allison Loconto (INRA/FAO)
Dr. Pilar Santacoloma (FAO)
Anne Sophie Poisot (FAO)
Marcello Vicovaro (FAO)

2. Innovations in linking sustainable
practices with markets
• How do standards and market-based mechanisms
act as incentives for the adoption of sustainable
agriculture practices?
• Focus on institutional innovations:
▫ Novel ways of organizing public and private actors,
organizations, institutions (including
rules/regulations)
• Voluntary standards are “one of the most innovative
and startling institutional designs of the past 50
years” (Cashore et al., 2004: 4)

3. Method
• Call for proposals launched in September 2013
▫ 87 proposals, 15 case studies selected
▫ 4 Latin America & Caribbean, 6 African, 5 Asian
▫ 10 Organic, 3 integrated production systems, 2
IPM based
▫ 3 Community Supported Agriculture, 6 Multi-
actor Innovation Platforms; 6 Participatory
Guarantee Schemes
• To date, field visits to 7 case studies, interviews
with authors, peer-review and document
analysis

4. • National Constitution:
▫ Food Sovreignty
▫ Participatory decision-making
on environmental issues
▫ Valorization of small farmers
• National regulation for Organic
▫ 2006 - Export = 3PC, Domestic
= PGS
▫ Registration with Food Safety
Authority
• Municipal level
▫ PGS integrated into municipal
level committees
▫ Municipal extension officer in
organic
▫ Monthly ‘fieras’
• Local adaptation
▫ Focus on native crops (e.g.,
quinoa, potatoes)
▫ Creation of local input markets
▫ Farmer to farmer training

5. Familia de la Tierra
• National Regulation for Organic
▫ 1999 - 3PC + ICS for groups
(2004 – label)
▫ 2014/15 -Ministry of
Agriculture is creating a PGS
registry
• District level
▫ 2012 – District of Bogotá
declared GMO-free
▫ Initiating public procurement
of organic (including from
PGS)
▫ Bio-fairs
• Local adaptation
▫ Cooking school, restaurants,
specialty stores
▫ Native seeds (e.g., beans, mais)
▫ DIY Soil testing

6. PGS Organic Council, India
• National Regulation for Organic
▫ 2004 - National Project on
Organic Farming (NPOF)
▫ 3PC through the Ministry of
Commerce
▫ 2011 - NPOF PGS – authorized
PGS and capacity building
• Nationally Federated system
▫ 12 Facilitation Councils
▫ 587 Local Farmer Groups
Marketing is farmer-led
Production support is NGO-led
▫ 5925 Farmer Families
• Local adaptations
▫ Ayurveda and Unani medicine
▫ Local language
▫ No parallel production allowed
▫ Native seeds

7. The Philippines
Carmen Cabling
Quezon Participatory Guarantee System
• National level
▫ Organic Act of 2010
Organic Certification Standards of
the Philippines (OCCP) 2005
Only 3PC authorized -
Moratorium until 2016
▫ Recognition of outstanding organic
implementers
▫ Focal persons for organic at all
levels
▫ PGS Philippinas
• Province level
▫ 2011 - QPGS as the first multi-
stakeholder PGS
▫ League of Organic Agriculture in
Municipalities (LOAM)
▫ Weekend Organic Markets
• Local adaptation
▫ Diversified integrated farming
▫ Random chemical residue testing
▫ Provincial agriculturalist +
University collaboration

8. Namibia
Manjo Smith & Stephen Barrow
Namibian Organic Association &
Afrisco Certified Organic
• National Constitution
▫ Ecosystem
conservation/maintenance
• National Level
▫ 1995 - Ag Policy: “Agricultural
growth will not be pursued at the
expense of the environment.”
▫ Informal recognition by the
Namibian Standards Authority
• Sub-national level
▫ Strong support by large
commercial farmers
▫ Transparency + label = trust
▫ ~30,000 ha certified (11 farms)
• Local adaptation
▫ Biological farming + Holistic
Management + Biodynamic
▫ High standards to meet well
informed consumers

9. Uganda
Julie Nakalanda & Irene Kugonza
FreshVeggies PGS & NOGAMU
• Regional Level
▫ 2007 - East African Organic
Products Standard (EAOPS)
▫ PGS norm
• National Level
▫ Promotion and training from
NOGAMU
• District Level
▫ Building on SACCOs
▫ Using social media to create
markets
• Consumer-led production
approach providing healthy/
difficult to find products
• Local adaptations
▫ ‘dos and don’ts’
▫ 3 local medicinal plants
▫ Rotating responsibilities

10. PGS facilitates collective marketing
“putting ‘culture’ back into agriculture”
• Farmers’ markets and Fieras
▫ Bolivia, Colombia, India, Namibia, Philippines
• Box-schemes
▫ Colombia, Namibia, Uganda
• Hospitality industry (restaurants, hotels, tourism)
▫ Colombia, Namibia, Uganda
• Public procurement (schools, hospitals, prisons)
▫ Bolivia, Colombia, Philippines
• Input markets (seeds, biofertilizers)
▫ Bolivia, Colombia, India

11. Lessons learned
• Lack of national legislation has allowed private actors time to
gain legitimacy
▫ But there are also legal challenges that can be brought by the use
of ‘organic’ labels if PGS is not recognized at the national level
(e.g., Philippines)
• Continuous capacity building is fundamental
▫ Some use rotating responsibilities, others use formal training
• Cost reduction is an important motivation for developing PGS
▫ But reliance on volunteers doesn’t consider the ‘time’ costs. Some
PGS have begun to charge a small fee.
• PGS have created multiple layers of oversight
▫ None of the PGS rely on self-certification alone (self-claims
dilute trust)
• Smallholder inclusion in the value chain is crucial
▫ Not only as producers, but also as implementers of a system
(certification)

12. Conclusions
• Collaboration needed among ministries (Agriculture,
Commerce, Development, Environment)
▫ Competent agencies under multiple ministries
coordinate/regulate Organic & PGS
▫ Multi-level separation of competencies/responsibilities is
important
• The size of the market is still small, but it is innovative
▫ Local consumers are not well informed of organics or PGS
▫ Informed consumers look for ‘healthy’ products
▫ Labels and direct marketing are key
▫ Need organic input supply ‘markets’ to develop alongside
PGS

13. allison.loconto@fao.org
www.fao.org/ag/ags/
www.inra-ifris.org