(EMAILWIRE.COM, December 08, 2012 ) New York, NY -- Russia hopes to take a leading role as a supplier of organic agricultural products as part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) initiative. Russian politicians are crafting a bill that will support national production of organic foodstuffs. The politicians now have eyes toward selling them on the European Union market.
The Russian Ministry of Agriculture is expected to address the bill sometime in December, with the intent that it will become law by no later than 2015.
Lawmakers are working on the bill that will provide Russian farmers with several with several layers of government support. Those supports include: Assistance from the state to small and medium-sized businesses that provide services to producers of organic products, insurance for farmers against disease or crop failure, a certification system for environmentally friendly products, support of from the national consumer agricultural cooperation, and special credits and subsidies.
To reach this goal, Russian organic farmers have promised to reduce the cost of their products.
Igor Rudensky, the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy leader, said, "As long as organic products are in demand, this idea has a future, of course. Many people buy eco-friendly products deliberately. So I think that the Ministry of Agriculture does it all right.”
Rudensky noted that Russia has all of the prerequisites needed for the development of an organic products market, including vast amounts of land as well as a number of greenhouse farms that can grow organic produce.
In 2011, the Russian organic products market amounted to between $60 and $80 million, less than 0.1% of the total amount of food consumed by Russian citizens, according to a report by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. Of that, only 10% is actually grown by Russian farmers. German manufacturers actually produce the majority of organic food within Russia.
Industry experts say that the bill is not going to have much of an effect. Growing vegetables without artificial food additives, genetically modified organisms, growth regulators, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers on an industrial level is extremely labor intensive. That necessary level leads to the costs of such products being three times more than the regularly grown products. In Russia, only 5% of citizens can afford to eat environmentally friendly products. Insiders say that as a result, this effort will end up not amounting to much more in additional sales globally.
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