090521 Fact Sheet En

International Non-Governmental Organization

Association of Organic Production Stakeholders «BIOLan Ukraine» Chervona Ploshcha Str., 2, Illintsi, Vinnytsia Oblast, 22700 tel. +38 044 227 5245, tel./fax +38 04345 22161, e-mail: [email protected], http://www.biolan.org.ua

Association “BIOLan Ukraine” The International Non-Governmental Association of Organic Production Stakeholders “BIOLan Ukraine” is a nonprofit organization which unites the efforts of organic production stakeholders and other interested parties on their way to organic production market development in Ukraine. The Association functions with the active support of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), with the technological support of Swiss College for Agriculture (SCA) in Zollikofen (Switzerland), and in partnership with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine. The Association “BIOLan Ukraine” was founded at the General Assembly on December 19, 2002 in order to enhance the development of organic production. The Association “BIOLan Ukraine” determines the following priority directions in its work: - Developing the producers network and establishing the internal market for organic production; - Elaboration of legislation for organic production; - Guarantee of organic products quality by means of certification and standardization; - Raising the public environmental awareness; - Introduction of the Organic Production Course into the curriculum of specialized educational institutions. The Association “BIOLan Ukraine” functions as a national information exchange platform for innovative technologies in organic farming and their effective implementation. The expert-members of the Association have elaborated the Standards of Organic Agricultural Production and Labeling of Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs “BioLan” which correspond to the Basic Standards of International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), as well as Council Regulation (ЕЕС) №2092/91 on organic production and BIO SWISS Standards (Swiss organic farmer Association). BIOLan standards have been positively examined in Europe by FiBL and are applied by Ukrainian farmers. As a result of collaboration between the Association experts, the representatives from different sectors of Ukrainian economy and with the support of State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) the Certification Body was created. Its main objective is providing services for inspection and certification of organic production in compliance with the international norms and BIOLan standards. At present the Association consists of 145 members, among them - 56 organic producers. The rest of the members are processing enterprises, distributors, research institutions and non-governmental organizations. There are two powerful structural subdivisions in “BIOLan Ukraine”: the Marketing Department cooperates with medium and small farmers, helping them to sell their organic products, and with big producers, supporting them to find partners and ways of selling products; the Advisory Department provides informational and advisory support on the way from conversion to organic farming to its active implementation. On the Association’s initiative a new project “Sales Point for Organic Products in Kyiv” started at the end of 2006 and the first organic products – vegetables and cereals – were sold. Due to the efforts of the Marketing Department and its partners in 2008 four kinds of cereals with BIOLan labels appeared in Kyiv supermarkets. Such vegetables as cabbage, carrots, red beet and some others are also sold with BIOLan label. The label guarantees products quality, absence of genetically modified organisms, no use of chemical synthetically means during growing, storing and processing. The Advisory Department conducts a number of systematic events aimed at the quality improvement of theoretical knowledge and practical skills of organic producers. About 200 technological consultations were provided in different regions of Ukraine in 2008. Besides, there were held trainings, demonstration events, Days of Open Doors and farm visits all over Ukraine. On the initiative of BIOLan Association “The List of the Permitted Agents for Organic production in Ukraine” corresponding to BIOLan Standards is being currently elaborated. This will help the organic producers in selection of organic fertilizers, substrates, biological plant protection means, veterinary drugs, fodder additions, etc. In May 2008 the Association became a fledged member of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), this opens new horizons for international cooperation. In 2009 the Ukrainian organic producers were first represented under the brand of “BIOLan Ukraine” at the 20th International Exhibition of Organic Production “BioFach” in Nürnberg (Germany). The Association’s General Assembly took place on March 3, 2009. Head of the Association’s Management Board is Vasyl Pyndus. Starting from February 25, 2009 the position of General Manager is taken by Kostyantyn Yakovchuk-Besarab. You can find more details on the activity of Association “BIOLan Ukraine” on the web-page: http://www.biolan.org.ua.