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Organic Management.
BOX 2: DEFINITIONS
The word “organic” is legally protected in some countries. In the EU, for example,
this word has been protected since the early 1990s in English-speaking countries.
The equivalent in French, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch-speaking countries is
“biological”, and “ecological” in Danish, German and Spanish-speaking countries.
IFOAM definition:
The International Federation for Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM),
established in the early 1970s, represents over 600 members and associate
institutions in over 100 countries. IFOAM (1996) defines the “organic” term as
referring to the particular farming system described in its Basic Standards. The
“Principle Aims of Organic Agriculture and Processing” are based on the following
equally important principles and ideas:
• to produce food of high nutritional quality in sufficient quantity;
• to interact in a constructive and life enhancing way with all natural systems
and cycles;
• to encourage and enhance biological cycles within the farming system,
involving micro organisms, soil flora and fauna, plants and animals;
• to maintain and increase long-term fertility of soils;
• to promote the healthy use and proper care of water, water resources and all
life therein;
• to help in the conservation of soil and water;
• to use, as far as is possible, renewable resources in locally organized
agricultural systems;
• to work, as far as possible, within a closed system with regard to organic
matter and nutrient elements;
• to work, as far as possible, with materials and substances which can be
reused or recycled, either on the farm or elsewhere;
• to give all livestock conditions of life which allow them to perform the basic
aspects of their innate behaviour;
• to minimize all forms of pollution that may result from agricultural practices;
• to maintain the genetic diversity of the agricultural system and its
surroundings, including the protection of plant and wildlife habitats;
• to allow everyone involved in organic production and processing a quality of
life conforming to the UN Human Rights Charter, to cover their basic needs and
obtain an adequate return and satisfaction from their work, including a safe
working environment;
• to consider the wider social and ecological impact of the farming system;
• to produce non-food products from renewable resources, which are fully
biodegradable;
• to encourage organic agriculture associations to function along democratic
lines and the principle of division of powers;
• to progress towards an entire organic production chain, which is both socially
just and ecologically responsible.
IFOAM notes that “Genetic engineering focuses on the genetic makeup without
taking into account the complete organism or system in which the organism
functions. It is thus a contradiction to the above mentioned principle aims of
organic agriculture.”
US definition:
In 1980 the US Department of Agriculture defined the concept of organic
agriculture as follows: “...a production system which avoids or largely excludes the
use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and
livestock feed additives. To the maximum extent feasible, organic agriculture
systems rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manure, legumes, green
manure, off-farm organic wastes, mechanical cultivation, mineral bearing rocks,
and aspects of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth, to
supply plant nutrients, and to control insects, weeds, and other pests’. The report
also included the following observation: “The concept of the soil as a living system
which must be "fed" in a way that does not restrict the activities of beneficial
organisms necessary for recycling nutrients and producing humus is central to this
definition.”
BOX 1: ORGANIC MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Soil management practices include increasing humus content and biological
activity as well as meeting mineral deficiency of soils:
• manipulation of crop rotations and strip-cropping: deep and shallow rooted
plants bring different nutrients to the surface; different crops require different
nutrients;
• growing green manure;
• undersowing;
• application of rock dust, manure, crop and agro-industry residues,
household waste, compost;
• soil tillage, such as use of an implement which aerates the soil.
Pest management practices include:
• manipulation of crop rotations, to minimize survival of crop-specific pests (in
the form of, for example, insect eggs, fungi) which can infest the next crop;
• strip cropping, to moderate spreading of pests over large areas;
• manipulation of pH-level or moisture level of the soil (in irrigated areas);
• manipulation of planting dates, to plant at a time most optimal for the crop,
or least beneficial for the pest;
• adjustment of seeding rates, to achieve an optimal rate given the need to
crowd out weeds or avoid insects;
• use of appropriate plant varieties and livestock breeds for local conditions;
• implementation of stock culling programmes, which emphasize genetic
resistance against certain diseases;
• use of stock buying programmes, which minimize the import of diseases
onto the farm;
• limiting field size, which aids in weed management by livestock;
• biological control methods, to encourage natural enemies of pests by
providing habitat (for example hedges) or by breeding and releasing them in
areas where they are required;
• trapping insects, possibly with the use of lures such as pheromones;
• biological pesticides (for example, derris dust, pyrethrum, rotenone) of
which the active ingredient is short-lasting, and which may be produced locally.
Post-harvest practices include:
• in temperate countries, grains can be well conserved when harvested and
stocked in conditions which allow air circulation (in jute sacs, ventilated silos, etc.);
• in tropical countries, humidity and high temperatures pose problems which
can be overcome through: harvesting at complete maturity and during dry
weather; storing without stripping off the bark; drying of grains under the sun
before storing; mixing sand, china-clay, or wood ash to grains; adding little
quantities of nut oil to niebe grains (very effective on weevil); addition of smoke or
certain plants to repel insects; etc.;
• in ancient Europe and the Mediterranean basin, grains were stored in
buried pits for several years: the anaerobic conditions of these pits prevented
insect proliferation and the grains underwent an initial fermentation which
protected it from insects and mouldiness, despite the high degree of humidity;
• traditional procedures allow conservation and enhancement of the nutritional
value of cereals and leguminous, such as: fomenting rice (rice is bathed, steamed
and dried) destroys insect eggs; transforming wheat in bourghoul (wheat is
germinated, boiled, dried and crushed) enriches the cereal with vitamins and
essential amino-acids (lysine) and pre-digest starch; fermenting certain
leguminous (for example, soy in the Far East and nere in Africa) gives high
nutritional quality products which can be conserved for years; fermented fish
sauce (nuoc-nam) allows simple fish conservation and offers an alternative to fish
drying, especially that the latter entails inevitable losses in tropical conditions.
Soil management practices include increasing humus content and biological
activity as well as meeting mineral deficiency of soils:
• manipulation of crop rotations and strip-cropping: deep and shallow rooted
plants bring different nutrients to the surface; different crops require different
nutrients;
• growing green manure;
• undersowing;
• application of rock dust, manure, crop and agro-industry residues,
household waste, compost;
• soil tillage, such as use of an implement which aerates the soil.
Pest management practices include:
• manipulation of crop rotations, to minimize survival of crop-specific pests (in
the form of, for example, insect eggs, fungi) which can infest the next crop;
• strip cropping, to moderate spreading of pests over large areas;
• manipulation of pH-level or moisture level of the soil (in irrigated areas);
• manipulation of planting dates, to plant at a time most optimal for the crop,
or least beneficial for the pest;
• adjustment of seeding rates, to achieve an optimal rate given the need to
crowd out weeds or avoid insects;
• use of appropriate plant varieties and livestock breeds for local conditions;
• implementation of stock culling programmes, which emphasize genetic
resistance against certain diseases;
• use of stock buying programmes, which minimize the import of diseases
onto the farm;
• limiting field size, which aids in weed management by livestock;
• biological control methods, to encourage natural enemies of pests by
providing habitat (for example hedges) or by breeding and releasing them in
areas where they are required;
• trapping insects, possibly with the use of lures such as pheromones;
• biological pesticides (for example, derris dust, pyrethrum, rotenone) of
which the active ingredient is short-lasting, and which may be produced locally.
Post-harvest practices include:
• in temperate countries, grains can be well conserved when harvested and
stocked in conditions which allow air circulation (in jute sacs, ventilated silos, etc.);
• in tropical countries, humidity and high temperatures pose problems which
can be overcome through: harvesting at complete maturity and during dry
weather; storing without stripping off the bark; drying of grains under the sun
before storing; mixing sand, china-clay, or wood ash to grains; adding little
quantities of nut oil to niebe grains (very effective on weevil); addition of smoke or
certain plants to repel insects; etc.;
• in ancient Europe and the Mediterranean basin, grains were stored in
buried pits for several years: the anaerobic conditions of these pits prevented
insect proliferation and the grains underwent an initial fermentation which
protected it from insects and mouldiness, despite the high degree of humidity;
• traditional procedures allow conservation and enhancement of the nutritional
value of cereals and leguminous, such as: fomenting rice (rice is bathed, steamed
and dried) destroys insect eggs; transforming wheat in bourghoul (wheat is
germinated, boiled, dried and crushed) enriches the cereal with vitamins and
essential amino-acids (lysine) and pre-digest starch; fermenting certain
leguminous (for example, soy in the Far East and nere in Africa) gives high
nutritional quality products which can be conserved for years; fermented fish
sauce (nuoc-nam) allows simple fish conservation and offers an alternative to fish
drying, especially that the latter entails inevitable losses in tropical conditions.
