1 Report Regional Workshop on Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) for organic agriculture in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS): Lessons Learnt and the Way Forward Bangkok, Thailand 04 - 06 April 2017 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) - Main Conference Room Participating countries: Cambodia), Lao PRD, Myanmar, People's Republic of China (Guangxi), Thailand and Vietnam
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ReportRegionalWorkshoponParticipatoryGuaranteeSystems(PGS)fororganic
agricultureintheGreaterMekongSub-region(GMS):LessonsLearntandtheWayForward
Bangkok,Thailand04-06April2017
FoodandAgricultureOrganizationoftheUnitedNations(FAO)
RegionalOfficeforAsiaandthePacific(RAP)-MainConferenceRoom
Participatingcountries:
Cambodia),LaoPRD,Myanmar,People'sRepublicofChina(Guangxi), ThailandandVietnam
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TableofContentsTableofContents..............................................................................................................................................21. Background................................................................................................................................................32. Objectives....................................................................................................................................................43. ExpectedOutputs....................................................................................................................................44. Participants................................................................................................................................................45. Participants................................................................................................................................................55.1. SummaryonPGSstatuspercountry...................................................................................55.2. HighlightsPGSstatusandmainproblemspercountry...........................................65.2.1. Cambodia........................................................................................................................................65.2.2. People'sRepublicofChina(Guangxi)............................................................................65.2.3. LaoPDR............................................................................................................................................65.2.4. Myanmar.........................................................................................................................................75.2.5. Thailand...........................................................................................................................................75.2.6. VietNam..........................................................................................................................................75.3. LessonslearntfromandRecommendationsforPGSimplementationinthefield ...................................................................................................................................................................75.3.1. BenefitsforfarmerswhenparticipatingonPGS......................................................75.3.2. Harmonizationofinitiativesandpossiblenational/regionalsystemsorplatforms........................................................................................................................................................85.3.3. Marketdrivenandinvolvementofprivatesector..................................................85.3.4. Trustbuildingwithconsumers..........................................................................................85.3.5. NationalGuidelines...................................................................................................................85.3.6. Overallchallenges(someofthemrefertoagricultureingeneral)...............95.3.7. RegionalCollaboration...........................................................................................................95.4. Wayforwardandactionplanpercountry.......................................................................95.4.1. Cambodia........................................................................................................................................95.4.2. People'sRepublicofChina(Guangxi).........................................................................105.4.3. LaoPDR.........................................................................................................................................105.4.4. Myanmar......................................................................................................................................105.4.5. Thailand........................................................................................................................................105.4.6. VietNam.......................................................................................................................................10
Annexes...............................................................................................................................................................11I. ProgrammeoftheReginalWorkshoponPGS.................................................................11II. ListofParticipants.........................................................................................................................13III. EvaluationfromtheparticipantstotheRegionalWorkshop.............................15
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1. BackgroundTheglobalmarketoforganicproductsincreasedfivefoldbetween1999and2014,1OrganicMonitorprojectsgrowthtocontinue.2ThistrendisalsotruefortheAsianregionwherethethird largest market for organic products in the world and forty percent of the world’sorganic producers are located (a total of 0.9 million producers, mostly concentrated inIndia).3Consumersintheregionareincreasinglydemandingorganicproductstoensurefoodsafety.4 This trend represents an opportunity for smallholder farmers practicing organicproductiontoincreasetheirsalesandimprovetheirlivelihoods.Yet,thisopportunityisnotreadilyavailabletosmallholderfarmersintheregion.Onereasonbehindthisisthehighcostof third-party certification,meaning that farmers practicing organic farming are unable tofetchpremiumpricesinthemarketbecauseof lackofdifferentiationintheirproducts. At
1HelgaWillerandJuliaLernoud.2016.TheWorldofOrganicAgriculture2016:Summary.In:ResearchInstituteofOrganicAgriculture(FiBL)andtheInternationalFederationofOrganicAgricultureMovements(IFOAM).2016.Statistics&EmergingTrends2016.Retrievedfromhttps://shop.fibl.org/fileadmin/documents/shop/1698-organic-world-2016.pdf2OrganicMonitorisaspecialistresearch,consulting&trainingcompanythatfocusesonglobalsustainableproductindustries.Retrievedhttp://www.organicmonitor.com/3HelgaWillerandJuliaLernoud.2016.TheWorldofOrganicAgriculture2016:Summary.In:ResearchInstituteofOrganicAgriculture(FiBL)andtheInternationalFederationofOrganicAgricultureMovements(IFOAM).2016.Statistics&EmergingTrends2016.Retrievedfromhttps://shop.fibl.org/fileadmin/documents/shop/1698-organic-world-2016.pdf4OngKhungWai.OrganicAsia2015.2016.TheWorldofOrganicAgriculture2016:Summary.In:ResearchInstituteofOrganicAgriculture(FiBL)andtheInternationalFederationofOrganicAgricultureMovements(IFOAM).2016.Statistics&EmergingTrends2016.Retrievedfromhttps://shop.fibl.org/fileadmin/documents/shop/1698-organic-world-2016.pdf
ParticipantstotheRegionalWorkshoponParticipatoryGuaranteeSystems(PGS)fororganicagricultureintheGreaterMekongSub-region(GMS):LessonsLearntandtheWayForward
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the same time, consumers also face difficulties in finding and trusting labelled organic orsafefoodproductsinthemarket.According to IFOAM - Organics International, the PGS certification scheme “offers acomplementary,low-cost,locally-basedsystemofqualityassurance,withaheavyemphasison social control and knowledge building”, it represents an alternative to the third-partycertification, especially adapted to local markets and short supply chains suitable forsmallholderfarmers.In2013,duringthe“AsiaPacificSymposiumonEntrepreneurshipandInnovationinOrganicFarming”jointlyorganizedbyFAOandIFOAM–OrganicsInternational,countriesrequestedtechnicalassistancefortheestablishmentandpromotionofParticipatoryGuaranteeSystem(PGS)certificationschemes intheregion. Inresponse, in2015apilotprojecttitled“Small-ScaleFarmerInclusioninOrganicAgricultureDevelopmentthroughParticipatoryGuaranteeSystems (PGS)” was initiated in Lao PDR and Cambodia. The project addresses thecertification and marketing issues through the promotion of PGS in the participatingcountriesaswellasawarenessraisingonthebenefitsoforganicproductionandPGSfortheenvironment,healthandlivelihoodsofruralcommunities.Similarly,TheAsianDevelopmentBank(ADB)throughtheCoreAgricultureSupportProgram,Phase2,supportscountriesoftheGreaterMekongSub-region(GMS)5andissupportingtheproductionofagriculturalfoodproductsthatcomplywithfoodsafetyandqualitystandards,andmarketaccess.Inthiscontext,FAOincollaborationwithADB,IFOAM–OrganicsInternationalandEarthNetFoundation (ENF) have organized a 3-day Regional workshop on Participatory GuaranteeSystems(PGS)fororganicagricultureintheGreaterMekongSub-region:LessonslearntandtheWayForward.(SeeprogrammeinAnnexI).
2. ObjectivesThe objectives of the workshop are (i) to exchange the lessons learnt during thedevelopmentoftheParticipatoryGuaranteeSystem(PGS)fororganicagriculture,(ii)exploreandplanfurtherSub-Regionalcollaborationsandpolicyadvocacyand(iii)agreeontheWayForwardonPGSfortheGreaterMekongSub-Region.
3. ExpectedOutputs• UpdatePGSstatusatNationalLevel• ConsolidatedLessonslearnedfromPGSimplementationinthefield• Recommendationsonthewayforwardandprioritiesareas
4. ParticipantsAtotalof40participantsattendedtheworkshopfromthegovernmentsector,NGOsandsmallmediumentrepreneurs(SMEs)whohavebeenactivelyinvolvedintheestablishmentanddevelopmentofPGSintheirrespectivecountriesnamelyCambodia,LaoPDR,Myanmar,People'sRepublicofChina(Guangxi),ThailandandVietNam.
5GreaterMekongSub-region(GMS)iscomposedofCambodia,thePeople’sRepublicofChina,LaoPDR,Myanmar,ThailandandVietNam.
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