Certified Organic Coffee & Myanmar's Experience by Ngwe TUN, Founder, Genius Shan Highlands Coffee

1. Certified organic coffee
Myanmar’s Experience.
Ngwe TUN
Founder, Genius Shan Highlands Coffee

2. Myanmar Outlook in Agriculture.
 modernization is still under way in Myanmar’s agricultural industry
 Agriculture generates an estimated 24% of GDP, 24.6% of export earnings and employs
61.2% of the labor force
 reform and investment will make Myanmar’s land more productive, improve the
earnings of farmers and generate higher income.
 added value will continue to increase as efficiencies and investments begin to make a
difference
 Although the agricultural share in GDP and employment usually declines as an economy
grows, it is not a sunset industry in Myanmar.
 An estimated 54% of the crop-sown area in the country is used to grow rice, and the
staple generates 80% of the country’s total agricultural value
 Myanmar is also a major producer of beans and pulses.
 An estimated 16% of sown land is committed to these products. Beyond this, industrial
crops use 7% of the sown land, oil crops 21% and other cereals 2%.
 Overall, Myanmar grows 60 different types of crops, including wheat, corn, oilseeds,
vegetables, pulses, potatoes, mangoes, bananas, rambutan and pineapple.
Ref; https://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/overview/regrowth-opening-sector-and-investing-productivity

3. Why Coffee is not in the list of producing
crops by Myanmar
 We export coffee much as commodity crop till now.
 We produced coffee farm with unmanaged style.
 We do not have food processing company.
 We had lack in machinery and skilled
 We had consumed TEA more than Coffee in daily basis
 We do not know/receive the actual statistics of coffee sown area/production volume
 We are not member of international coffee organizations
 We do not have FDI in this sector.
 We do not have certified products.
 We do not have/apply sustainable farming standards and coffee grade yet.

4. The socio-economics of organic farming

5. Why we need certification
 Certification can help differentiate the preferred organic
products from other products, which can be helpful to
promote organically grown products in the market.
 Certification can also result in higher producer prices as
consumers are willing to pay higher price for quality
products.
 Organic products thus can raise income of producers
and improve the quality of life.

7. Ref; https://www.scaa.org/PDF/SustainableCoffeeCertificationsComparisonMatrix.pdf

8. WHAT IS ORGANIC CERTIFICATION?
 an independent third party gives (e.g Control Union)
 a procedure
 a written assurance/guarantee
 a clearly identified process
 methodically assessed to provide adequate confidence
 for specified products and
 specified requirements.
 officially states that the production processes (e.g. Internal Control System, Book-
keeping, traceability and Good Agriculture Practices)
 product complies with certain standards. (USDA, EU NOP, JAS)

9. Certification
 to demonstrate that a product has
been produced in a certain way
 has certain characteristics complying
with a clearly-defined standard.
 In international markets where
consumers cannot be easily assured
of the quality of a product or its
production process.
 requires iinspections of the operators
(producer/ processor/handler).

10. Conventional Vs Organic
 Farmers who have been using
 chemical fertilizer & pesticides and
 No Record Keeping in their farms mean Conventional
 In the last four decades chemicals were using by farmers but also by the policy makers,
intellectuals and traders
 The continuously increasing price of external agricultural inputs such as mineral
fertilizer and agrochemicals, is another important factor for farmers looking for
alternatives in order to sustain their farm productivity and livelihoods.
 Organic agriculture is a production method which manages the farm and its
environment as a single system. It utilizes both traditional and scientific knowledge to
enhance the health of agro-ecosystem in which the farm operates.
 Organic farms rely on the use of local natural resources and the management of the
ecosystem

11. Purpose of the inspection
 to verify that the required conditions are in place to meet the certifying agency's
certification criteria or local/international standards.
 Certification includes inspection of farm fields and processing facilities.
 Inspections of farm practices include
 long term soil management,
 buffering between organic farms and any neighboring conventional farms,
 product labeling, and
 record keeping.

12. Workflow of inspection
 Transitioning to organic production/Choosing a cert agency
 Developing a certifiable audit trail
 Submitting an application to a cert agency
 Organic Inspection
 Review and Certification
 Address Outstanding issues or Non Compliances
 Certification Body presents the status

13. Notes about Certification
Producers who sell less than $5,000 per year are not required
to be certified
Certified operations must submit updated organic plan, pay
fees, and be re-inspected each year.
USDA or the certifying agent may conduct unannounced
inspections at any time to enforce the regulations.
Certifying agents or USDA will conduct residue tests of
organic products if there is reason to believe that products
have been contaminated with prohibited substances.

14. Welcome to Green Economy.

15. Organic Products in Myanmar Market.

16. Certificate Samples

17. Product Samples

18. Three Labeling Categories in
Organic Certified Products
 “100% Organic” (may use USDA and/or certifier seal)
 “Organic” (may use USDA and/or certifier seal)
At least 95% organic ingredients
Remaining 5% must be on the “National List”.
Must use organic ingredients if commercially available.
 “Made with Organic (Ingredients)” (may use certifier seal)
From 95% to 70% of the ingredients must be organic.

19. Violations
 If your organic certification agency finds just
cause, certification can and will be suspended
or revoked.
 Any person who knowingly violates the US -
1990 Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) can
be fined up to $10,000 per violation.
(representing product as organic without
certification is an example violation)

20. Conclusion.
 Myanmar Coffee Farms are not too much
complicated in transition to Organic Coffee Farming
 Myanmar coffee can penetrate with organic farming
in international market.
 Organic Certified Coffee can provide 50% income
raise to producers/farmers.
 Organic Certified Coffee and food products will
differentiate not only income raise but also
providing job opportunities in value addition food
productions.