The online platform IarmarEco is focused on helping small producers of organic fruits and vegetables and their processed products in the marketing process as well as promoting social and environmental initiatives. The official launch of the platform is scheduled for February 21 and, offline, the ceremony will be held in the building of ARTICO: Republican Center for Children and Youth.

The IarmarEco platform was developed by EcoVisio, a non-governmental organization with financial support from the Entrepreneurship Academy, founded by the EFSE Foundation under the EU4Business initiative and the LED Moldova Foundation (Liechtenstein Development Service). The platform is being financially supported by ERIM (formerly IREX Europe) within the COVID-19: Civil Society Resilience and Resilience project.

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The launch of the platform coincided with the decision of the National Emergency Commission on Public Health of Moldova to extend until mid-April and tighten restrictions due to the increase in the number of people infected with coronavirus in the country. For local producers of greenhouse vegetables and berries, this was an alarming signal.

In the spring and early summer of last year, farmers were hit particularly hard by the lockdown. Some found a solution in forming a client-base through announcements on websites developed by industry associations because of COVID-19 restrictions as well as on social networks. For a month and a half to two months, Moldova had a rather active system of scheduled product deliveries by farmers to micro districts of Chisinau and large cities as well as to the home by delivery services. However, the process of expanding the system ran into economic constraints since the minimum order size in physical and/or monetary terms was usually not less than 5 kg and $25-30. As the self-isolation requirements relaxed and fixed agri-food markets reopened, both sellers and buyers quickly returned.

Сообщение Online platform IarmarEco selling natural products launches in Moldova появились сначала на EastFruit.

Georgian company Toki Agro Products LLC plans to resume supplying wild-grown organic asparagus to the market in 2021. The company will also start a pilot project to grow various varieties of asparagus on its own property. The agricultural land of the group of companies, including Toki Agro Products, and whose products are manufactured under the brand name Green Republic, are located in the highlands of the Aspindza municipality of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in the southern part of Georgia. Today, the group owns about 20 hectares. Strawberries are grown on 3 hectares and various vegetables and cereals are grown on the rest.

Tornike Mzhavanadze, director and co-founder of Toki Agro Products, told EastFruit that wild-grown organic asparagus of the Green Republic brand first appeared in Georgian supermarket chains in 2019. These asparagus are endemic varieties in Georgia and they are harvested in the spring from an alpine, ecologically clean area.

“Together with Ilia State University, we conducted a study on endemic asparagus varieties in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Based on the results, the co-founders of the company – myself and Levan Shanava – decided to organize its collection and delivery to the market. In appearance, the wild asparagus we collect from an ecologically clean zone is very similar to cultivated varieties, but it has a special taste – much tastier and more aromatic. In addition, prices for organic products are higher. In 2019, we received a bio-certificate for asparagus from Caucascert, a local bio-certification body accredited by DAkkS in Germany. After that, we began supplying our products to Georgian supermarket chains where they immediately became in high demand. However, in the spring of 2020 amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we suspended production. In 2021, we plan to resume production again in early spring when the harvest begins and update the bio-certificate.

“Again, we will supply the products only to the Georgian market in supermarket chains. It is too early to speak of export at this stage. In 2019, we sent trial batches of our products to the European Union and received very good responses. However, considering the collection of asparagus growing in the wild is very dependent on weather conditions, the productivity of the picking teams, as well as other factors affecting transportation logistics, means we cannot ensure its stable supply to Europe,” says Mr. Mzhavanadze.

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The co-founder also states it will be possible to consider the export of fresh asparagus only after the company has established its own cultivation of asparagus. “In parallel with the production of wild-grown asparagus in 2021, we plan to plant on our farm several cultivated varieties that are most popular today, including in Europe. Also, we will plant endemic wild varieties on our land. Perhaps we will grow some part of the asparagus in greenhouse conditions. We want to see which varieties take root better as well as give higher yields in specific soil and climatic conditions. This will be an experiment, but it is not the first in our agribusiness’ history and we are preparing for it now. Ideally, cultivated varieties will enable us to secure export stability. For the wild-grown varieties, the yield of which will naturally be lower, the cultivated will replenish the assortment. Of course, all this will be carried out again through bio-production. If everything goes well, then I think by 2024 (since asparagus, as a rule, yields a harvest in the third year) we will start exporting our products,” Tornike Mzhavanadze said.

Mr. Mzhavanadze adds that the company is considering the European Union as a promising export market for their organic asparagus.

Сообщение Georgian company to resume supplies of wild-grown organic asparagus in spring появились сначала на EastFruit.

Due to its favorable geographic location, as well as favorable conditions for farming, over the past few years, Ukraine has become one of the leading suppliers of organic fruits and vegetables to the markets of Western Europe, occupying, as of the beginning of last year, the 4th place among the supplying countries in EU.

This is stated in the “Research of the Ukrainian Market for Organic Fruit and Vegetable Products-2019“, which was carried out at the initiative of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetable Business Development Project (UHBDP) with the participation of specialists from the certification body “Organic Standard,” as well as the educational and consulting project Organic Business School.

As the authors of the study note, currently, Ukrainian exporters of organic fruits and vegetables are actively using the advantages of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, which is part of the Agreement.

The research emphasizes that additional control measures over Ukrainian products introduced in the EU in January 2016 do not apply to fruit and berry and vegetable crops, simplifying the EU’s export of fruit and vegetable products. At the same time, the study notes that competition, especially in the developed EU market, is relatively high. “Therefore, Ukrainian exporters need to prepare very carefully for the supply and promotion of their products to this market,” researchers report.

The largest organic markets in the world are concentrated in the USA, Germany, and France. Thus, in percentage terms, the US organic market has a 47% share of the world market, and the EU organic market – 37%.

“These are the areas of export of organic products from Ukraine that can be a priority. Although Ukrainian exporters should also pay attention to countries such as Switzerland, Canada, and Asian countries, particularly the United Arab Emirates, Japan, and China,” authors of the study noted.

The UHBDP also notes that organic vegetables have the largest market share among all categories of organic produce.

In countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, and Sweden, organic vegetables account for 10% or more total vegetable assortment sales. In comparison, organic fresh carrots and pumpkins account for almost 30% of Germany’s corresponding product segment.

Analyzing the Ukrainian organic fruit and vegetable market, the authors of the study draw attention to the fact that some product categories have an advantage in terms of sales on the external market, and some on the domestic market.

“In particular, Ukrainian producers of organic vegetables sell their products mainly on the domestic market through supermarket chains (Silpo, Auchan, Good Wine, WineTime), small specialized stores (Natur Boutique, Eco Lavka), Internet, direct delivery to end consumers through the organic basket concept, or through a store near the farm. The products are sold fresh. The assortment of fresh organic vegetables on the Ukrainian market includes potatoes, beets, carrots, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, garlic, radishes, beans, lettuce, arugula, spinach, Swiss chard, cilantro, dill, basil, eggplant, zucchini, sweet corn, white cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, Peking cabbage, and Kale cabbage.

Organic fruits, including berries, are sold mainly for export to the EU and Switzerland. Partially, these products can also be found in the domestic market. For example, such products are watermelon, melon, pumpkin, grapes, blueberries, lingonberries, blackberries, raspberries, garden strawberries. These products are sold mainly fresh, although the berries are also sold frozen,” researchers reported.

It is noted that fresh organic apples supplied from Ukraine to foreign markets are intended only for further processing in the country of export. “The decision on whether to export fresh apple or apple concentrate from Ukraine is made depending on the market situation and the cost of logistics,” the authors of the study explained.

It should be noted that, in addition to cultivated organic fruit and berry products (raspberries, garden strawberries, chokeberries, apples), Ukrainian operators also sell wild plants: blueberries, blackberries, lingonberries, cranberries, elderberries, chokeberries, blackthorns, rose hips, sea buckthorn, mountain ash, wild strawberry, apple, and nuts.

“In total, about 20 Ukrainian operators export only wild berries. At the same time, 3 Ukrainian operators export walnut kernels, but only obtained as products of wild plants. The export of nuts grown in the fields of farms is not yet conducted. The main reason for the absence of such shipments is the young age of the walnut plantations and insufficient volumes for export,” the study explains.

The study also states that in 2018, 8 exporters supplied organic raspberries to EU markets, grown by 28 Ukrainian producers.

“An analysis of the importing countries of this berry shows that Ukrainian producers export their products to countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Serbia, and the United Kingdom. What is more, every year, the geography of Ukrainian organic exports raspberry increases,” authors of the research noted.

Сообщение Research: Ukraine becomes one of the leading exporters of organic fruits and vegetables to EU markets появились сначала на EastFruit.