ifoam'96 Book of Abstracts 11th IFOAM Scientific Conference 11-15 August 1996, Copenhagen, Denmark

ECOWEB FRONT PAGE SUBJECT INDEX AUTHOR INDEX

Workshop

The problems of certification of organic food in Lithuania W4

1) Lithuanian Academy of Agriculture, 4324 Kaunas, Lithuania, 2) National Nutritional Centre, 2042 Vilnius, Lithuania

Under the condition of general decline of agriculture in Lithuania development of organic agriculture is to be expected.
Increasing interest for organic food demands a legislation of ecoproduction. The only legislation instrument on organic farming is Act No 1 - 734 (94 12 22) on state regulation of economic relations in agriculture of Republic of Lithuania. This act notes a priority of organic agriculture and describes rules of accreditation for a control organization.
An important guarantee for the consumer is approved certification system. in Lithuania is already the system of certification, including standards, documentation, inspection and certification procedures, labelling and information.
Inspection of farms was started in 1993. At the moment there are 36 certified farms. Until now certification was done by Lithuanian Association of Ecological Agriculture »Gaja«. A new independent organization for certification is in the process of starting. Ministries of Agriculture and Health are going to be initiators of this organization According to Act No 1 - 734 this organization must be accredited with department of standards.
In 1994 the new rules for certification of ecological products and processing were issued in Lithuania. They were prepared based on IFOAM standards and other national standards. At the moment we are preparing a new standards which will be also based on EU regulation 2092/91.
At present we put efforts that the control organization of the organic agriculture might receive official recognition in Lithuania. The agreement made with the Swedish control organizations gives us a reason to believe that in near future we shall receive international accreditation.
In order to achieve effective work of certification system in Lithuania the financial support from the government is indispensable.