The Ecuadorian Agency for Agricultural Quality Assurance, AGROCALIDAD, implemented the national organic production control system in Ecuador in compliance with Ministerial Agreement N° 299, of July 11, 2013, "General Regulations to Promote and Regulate Organic, Ecological and Biological Production in Ecuador", and Resolution No. 99, issued on September 30, 2013, "Instruction of the General Regulations to Promote and Regulate Organic-Ecological-Biological Production in Ecuador."
Ecuador has organic production in 23 of the country's 24 provinces. The country currently has 33,921.81 hectares of organic production and 5,902.24 hectares in transition (from conventional to organic production). It also has 468 organic operators, 412 of which are individuals and 56 groups that congregate 12,071 producers.
This year, AGROCALIDAD has performed 27 control inspections in the production and processing sites and 17 marketing inspections at the national level. AGROCALIDAD has a technical team of 40 official inspectors that have been trained and specialize in organic production distributed throughout the country.
These inspections make it possible to guarantee the organic integrity of the products traded nationally and internationally. The main destination markets for this type of products are the United States and the European Union. Authorities are working on the equivalence of the national control system to facilitate the arrival of Ecuadorian organic products to these markets, as this would reduce certification costs for producers, among other things.
The Organic Producer Code (POA) was established so that consumers could identify organic products. Now all organic producers, processors or marketers should use the recently officially launched national organic production logo in their labeling, presentation and advertising of fresh or processed products that comply with the provisions established in the Instruction of the Regulations of Ecuadorian Organic Production, so that consumer can more easily identify the products with organic designation.
AGROCALIDAD will authorize the use and administration of the national organic production logo to certifying agencies accredited by the SAE and registered in AGROCALIDAD.
In order to strengthen this type of agricultural production in Ecuador, AGROCALIDAD conducts free training about the correct application of organic production regulations. This training is carried out by the Organic Department and it is aimed at all parties and operators that are interested in it. So far, 207 producers have been trained and there has been an emphasis for those who belong to associations that are increasingly interested in implementing this production system.
In June and July the authorities conducted surveys at the national level to better understand the consumers' knowledge, perception, and demand for organic production.
In addition, they carried out control inspections to guarantee the integrity of said products. The main target markets for these products are the European Union and the United States.