Pathbreaking Newsletter Promotes Development of Organic Sector in China

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BEIJING—A new monthly newsletter, Organic Trends, was recently launched in Beijing with the aim of promoting "environmentally friendly and healthy food production and processing" nationwide. The publisher, China Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Center (CESDRRC), is a sub-unit of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and is China's largest public-sector information center dedicated to the environment and sustainable development. Organic Trends is the newest addition to CESDRRC's publications line-up, which also includes a monthly update of center news, a guide to medicine and the environment, a photo diary of desertification, and Beijing-focused consumer guides to organic food, energy, building materials, and water.

Carrefour Produce: Organic Produce is available only at large supermarkets in urban centers, such as the French supermarket chain Carrefour in Beijing.

Building on CESDRRC's mission to make environmental knowledge accessible to the general public, Organic Trends researches and integrates information on China's expanding organic sector. "There has been tremendous growth in organics in the past 15 years," explains CESDRRC director and newsletter editor Eva Sternfeld. "But there is still a lot of confusion about organic food within China. We hope that the newsletter will help make some of this information and the developments more accessible to people."

China's first certified organic products were developed in the early 1990s, when foreign companies began working with farmers to meet specialty export markets in tea and soy products. Today, over 4,000 hectares of land producing organic food are overseen by more than 30 certifiers in China, each with their own labels and standards and covering products ranging from fruits and vegetables to grains and wines. In Shanghai, organics are popular enough to support an entirely organic supermarket, the O Store, which opened in the fall of 2005 and carries products from some 70 domestic producers. And in Beijing, the environmental group Friends of Nature recently began weekly farm-to-table deliveries of organic in-season produce from nearby Liu Min Ying Ecological Farm.

In 2003, SEPA's Organic Food Development Center, in cooperation with the German Technical Cooperation group (GTZ), developed China's first organic certification standards, which were later recognized by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, the world's leading organics oversight body. In early 2005, in an effort to further standardize these labels and ensure high organic standards, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China developed the first Chinese National Standards for Organic Produce. Beginning in mid-2006, this National Standard label will be required on all organic foods alongside any international certifications and should help standardize and improve the exportability of China's organic market.

While organic products remain largely aimed at the export market, with only limited distribution nationwide, a parallel 'green food' movement has arisen to satisfy Chinese demand for higher quality, more sustainable food items. In 1990, the Ministry of Agriculture established a China Green Food Development Center to produce "non-polluted, safe, high-quality nutritious food" for the domestic market. It now has 43 offices nationwide. The Center's "Green Food" label, given to items grown with limited amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, is now well recognized and widely available throughout China.

Ironically, the success of the green food movement has acted as an impediment to further development of the organic market. "Everyone knows the green food label," Sternfeld explains, "But it has also caused confusion. If you go on the street, even in Beijing, and ask people whether organic food or green food is healthier for them, or which one is better for the environment, most people will tell you green food. In Chinese, green sounds better than organic, which most people haven't even heard of anyway."

There has also been greater government support for green food, which is produced largely on state-run farms, than for the organic sector, which is developed mainly by international companies working directly with individual farmers or village cooperatives. "The Ministry of Agriculture was initially reluctant to promote organic agriculture, stating that it needed to focus on feeding its own 1.3 billion people first," Sternfeld explains, noting that the Ministry focused on green food as a healthy means of reaching this goal. "But as China increases its presence in the global food market, the Ministry is beginning to look more favorably towards the organic label." This is because

Lijiang Veggies: Organic produce fresh from the field, Lijiang, southwestern China. Because of irregularities in size and color, organic food does not always sell as well as conventional products in China's domestic market.

conventional Chinese produce has experienced difficulty breaking into the international market due to high toxin residues, Sternfeld says, and because mounting environmental concerns like severe water pollution from agricultural runoff are pushing the Ministry to seek out more ecologically sound farming methods.

Additional factors are impeding China's organic sector. While studies have shown that organic products are more nutritious and often taste better than conventional products, they are harder to market because they do not always look as pretty or grow as large. Moreover, the certification process is very expensive, and it takes three years to convert the cropland. "It's not so easy for poor farmers to survive without using any pesticides or fertilizers at all," explains Sternfeld. "They have nothing to fall back on if a crop fails." To address this problem, some organic standards officials are considering allowing farmers to apply for certification at the cooperative level, so that the financial and time burdens of organic conversion—as well as the benefits—can be shared at the community or village level.

Despite these challenges, Sternfeld contends that the main impediment to further development of China's organic sector is public awareness. "Many people want to buy healthy food, but they don't know where to find it or how to buy it," she explains. "And many farmers have organic food, but they don't know how to market it." Once this marketing link is made, Sternfeld asserts, there is potential for "fast and huge development" in the organic sector, especially as pollution continues to rise in China's industrialized urban centers. "People here are getting more and more concerned about the pollution and its effects on their food," she notes, explaining that the Chinese media recently reported multiple stories on dangerous pesticide and nitrate levels in foods.

Organic Oats: Organic certification label on oats grown in Inner Mongolia.

China's rapidly expanding middle class is willing to spend large amounts of money for food, particularly higher quality items. But, according to Sternfeld, "they don't always know what good quality is. They will buy shark fins and other rare specialty foods, so once they know about organic foods and the health and environmental benefits, they will certainly also be willing to pay more for them." This is especially true for urban parents of single children, who are often willing to sacrifice a great deal to ensure that their children have "the very best," she adds.

The new Organic Trends newsletter is a step in the right direction in raising awareness of the health and environmental benefits of organic food, and how it differs from green food. It also serves as a valuable resource for Beijing residents to learn about the availability of organic products and related events, such as the BioFach China 2006 Organic Expo to be held in Beijing this fall.

In the short term, however, organic food will likely remain a specialty item, accessible mainly to the international community and to upper and middle class urban Chinese. "Only when people have their basic needs met do they have the luxury to become concerned about the environment," says Sternfeld. In China's emerging market economy, the majority of people still have no choice but to make price the ultimate deciding factor in what they eat.

All photos in this article are courtesy of Lila Buckley.

 

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You can subscribe to Organic Trends free of charge through the CESDRRC website or by writing to aiwastar@163bj.com. CESDRRC welcomes all suggestions for the newsletter and is seeking submissions and additional information regarding suppliers, buyers, and other venues in China's organic sector.

 

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Additional Photos:

Carrefour Organics: Information on organic food at French supermarket chain Carrefour in Beijing. Many Chinese still do not know what organic food is.

Lijiang Fertilizer: A farmer brings organic fertilizer to her field, Lijiang, southwestern China. Unlike "green food," which is mostly produced on large state-run farms, organic-certified food is mostly grown on small farms and cooperatives.

Lijiang Greenhouse: Organic vegetables grown in a greenhouse, Lijiang, southwestern China.