The Government of Ecuador might declare that the province of Santa Elena, which has 3,500 hectares certified in organic production, mainly of musaceae, moringa, aloe, and prickly pear, among other products, is the first organic province in the country.
The proposal was announced on Wednesday by the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Tanlly Vera; the executive director of the Agency for the Regulation and Control of Phytosanitary and Zoosanitary (Agrocalidad), Julio Cesar Paredes; the prefect of Santa Elena, Jose Daniel Villao, and technicians from the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission on Organic Agriculture (CIAO).
Minister Vera stated that their goals were to make Ecuador into the world's nursery and the safest food supplier for national and international food.
The country's organic crops account for 1% of the national cultivated area amounting to 47,898 hectares. There are 13,513 organic producers in the country - 98% of which are peasant family farming - consolidated into 78 producer groups.
Source: eluniverso.com
