▷ The Ministry will promote Organic Agriculture

Published: 04/03/2006 - Updated: 10/30/2018

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will carry out a campaign financed by the EU, to promote production and consumption of organic products in Spain for two years, announced today its owner, Elena Espinosa, the Senate, during session control the government.

"We have proposed three objectives: to promote organic agriculture, to improve understanding of these products and promote its commercialization and consumption, and to improve coordination, resource management and the structuring of the sector," said Espinosa in answer to the question of Socialist Senator Luis Angel Lake on this matter. The minister also noted that it will conduct an information campaign on the royal decree recently approved by the Government to reserve exclusively for organic agriculture, the terms "organic," and "biological".

Espinosa said that in 2005, the area under organic agriculture in Spain exceeded 800,000 hectares, an increase of over 10% over the previous year to reach the top positions at both EU and global levels.

Once the stabilization of production, the Government intends to give organic agriculture a new approach to stop depending on foreign demand, which absorbs almost 90% of Spanish production. Despite this, according to the panel of food consumption, the acquisition in Spain of fresh organic fruits and vegetables has increased from 3% to 5% in 2005.

"Also the results of this recent study on the consumption of organic products in Spain show that 72.5% of consumers have heard about organic foods and are considered more natural, healthier without additives or artificial colors and produced without using chemical pesticides", said Espinosa.