Book of Abstracts
11th IFOAM
Scientific Conference
11-15 August 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark

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The policy for organic farming in Italy S31

Zanoli, Raffaele.

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ancona, I-60131 Ancona, Italy.

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The OF sector in Italy has shown the highest average annual growth rate inEurope (243%): from little less than 10.000 hectares in 1989 to almost159.000 hectares in 1994 (both data include land in conversion). OF is notevenly distributed in Italy; three regions (Sicily, Emilia-Romagna andTuscany) account for almost 50% of Italy's organic UAA. These aretraditionally strong agricultural regions, although they account only for...% of total Italian UAA. Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna have experienced pioneering organic movements dating back to the early `80s, while OF in Sicily, if we exclude the largest biodynamic citrus producer (Salamita:1100 hectares), has developed only recently and at a very fast rate. To which extent such rapid growth and regional concentration may be attributed to market driven forces or to the effects of policies explicitly aimed to the organic sector is still under investigation and here is briefly discussed.

The regional concentration may only partly be explained, however, by regional laws and bylaws. 11 Regions out of 20 have own laws which conform to the 2092/91 Regulation (Sicily is not among them), while all Regions but Calabria and Campania have implemented the 2078/92 Regulation for organic farming (Measure A2): fairly large differences are found in the level of payments. Globally, part of the explanation may reside in the lack of uniform national legislation, given that all attempts of the Ministry ofAgriculture to give (partial) execution to the EC Regulation 2092/91 have failed: the »temporary« recognition of the 7 certifying bodies dates back to 1992. Certifying bodies have different standards and number of inspectors, while there is still no national authority for monitoring the licensed bodies. In the near future, to avoid the dequalification of Italian OF, national production standards and a unifying framework for the certification system becomes urgent; new developments are also needed for extension services.

Bertino, R.M. (ed.) (1995): Bio 96. Distilleria, Forlì.

Columba, P. (1996): La qualità nelle produzioni biologiche. Università diPalermo, Palermo.

Zanoli, R. (1995): L'agricoltura biologica: prospettive normative e dimercato. in: Zanoli, R.; Santucci, F.M. (ed.) Proceedings of the Workshop Agricoltura biologica in Italia: aspetti tecnici, economici e normativi. Regione Marche, Ancona, p. 5-18 (to be published). Dr. Raffaele ZanoliDIBIAGA,Faculty of Agriculture University of Ancona Via Brecce BiancheI-60131 ANCONA (Italy) tel +39-(0)71-220-4929fax +39-(0)71-220-4858