The national coordinator of Ecological Agriculture and Organic Production of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Rogerio Pereira Dias, visited Chile to get to know the control system used by the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) on organic production.
Both countries seek to advance together in the work to reach a mutual recognition agreement on raw materials and organic products to facilitate the growing bilateral trade in this sector, the SAG said.
The Brazilian officials met with the Regional Minister of Agriculture of Valparaiso, Ricardo Astorga, and the regional director of the SAG, Francisca Herrera, to examine more thoroughly their experiences.
According to reports, Pereira Dias met with members of two organic associations, the Network of Organic Farmers of the Tenth Region and the Network of Ecological Agriculture Farmers Chiloe, with whom he discussed issues of public policy on organic agriculture promoted by the government of Brazil and the regulations in force in Chile.
The head of the Sub-department of Organic Agriculture from the SAG, Claudio Cardenas, said that "the idea is that the agreement not only incorporates the organic certification system through companies, but that the alternative certification systems are also recognized."
He also stated Brazil has a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), which is "something similar to the Organic Farmers Organizations (OAE) that exist in Chile." The idea, he stressed, is that Brazil incorporates them into this Memorandum of Understanding so they can establish a mechanism so that there is an effective exchange of information and collaborative experiences.
The Chilean official said that, according to the progress made on the issue by both governments, he expected the protocol could be implemented starting mid-2016.
Source: marcotradenews.com