II Week of Organic Agriculture in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Valencia

They will distribute guides to consumers and develop activities in feeding centers and commercial centers of the three regions, among other things.

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is organizing the Second Week of Organic Agriculture, an initiative that is part of the national information campaign and promotion of products from organic agriculture. Under the slogan 'Organic Agriculture. Live", the shares will develop in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Valencia, from tomorrow until next Saturday, June 9th.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage the consumption of products from organic agriculture. To this end, actions are aimed at consumers, industry, distribution and channel HORECA hotels, restaurants and catering.

During this II Week of Organic Agriculture, they will distribute guides for consumers as the "25 reasons to live Organic Agriculture" and a directory of manufacturers, in order to reflect society's the benefits of organic agriculture.

Further action will facilitate the distribution and the channel HORECA contacts necessary to include organic products in their menus.

There will be activities in feeding centers, as well as in commercial centers of the three autonomous regions above.

To assist the development of the Spanish organic production, MAPA fills the demand of these products, while offering citizens a choice of consumption that in Europe has a large acceptance.

The National Campaign

Information and Promotion of products from organic agriculture has the challenge of expanding the knowledge of this type of food among the Spanish population, encourage consumption and stimulate domestic demand for them. Currently, 62'1 per cent of the Spanish population does not consume organic products due to ignorance, or are not easily found.

That campaign of two years, funded by the European Union and the MAPA (50 per cent respectively), started last November 2006 with the organization of the First Week of Organic Agriculture. This time, the program of promotional activities aimed at Spanish families, professionals, trade and education as well as consumer associations.

Spain is the second European country in ecological area:

Spain is the second European country with the largest area devoted to organic production, according to statistics from a 2006, it has an organic agricultural area of over 900,000 hectares, and involves over 19,000 operators.

Although Spain is the second country in Europe, behind Italy, with more area devoted to organic production, it is estimated that 70 percent of Spanish production of such products are mainly exported to Europe, especially Germany, Holland, France and United Kingdom, where they arrived on fresh produce. The consumption of products from organic agriculture in the domestic market still represents a small expenditure on food of the Spanish.

In 2006, Andalusia (58 percent), Aragon (7.61 percent), Extremadura (6.79 per cent) and Catalonia (5.98 percent) were the regions that led the ranking by area under organic production.

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