7.Integration of the project into the WEHU-strategy / synergies

Organic agriculture and regional specialities are one of the few markets on which developing countries and economies in transition do have an opportunity to increase their value-added in the export of agricultural products. This due to the fact that on the European market there is an increasing demand for such products, which can not be covered by domestic production only. Therefore, WEHU is promoting the certification and the marketing of organic products in the framework of its trade related technical co-operation, as formulated in the strategy on organic certification and in WEHU’s annual planning.

The project will be implemented in close co-operation with our strategic partner FiBL, who is already successfully implementing our project to establish an Organic Certification Agency in India (INDOCERT). For WEHU this is an opportunity to continue its engagement in the organic sector in India with the same partner and to ensure the sustainability of the success of the INDOCERT-project.

INDOCERT is one of the founding members of ICCOA and Mr Mathew Sebastian, director of INDOCERT, is also member in the Board of Directors of ICCOA, so the synergies between this project and the INDOCERT-project will for sure be used in the best way. Nevertheless, INDOCERT, as an accredited certification agency, will have to concentrate in its core business. This project will bring additional business to INDCERT.

The most important synergy will be with the Swiss Import Promotion Program (SIPPO), which is already promoting the import of organic products from developing countries and economies in transition. SIPPO has already achieved great success in the field of organic import promotion to Switzerland and the EU, such as for example the organic herbs imported from different countries in South Eastern Europe or the organic shrimps from Vietnam. India is already one of the SIPPO’s “important countries” (Branchenprogrammland). SIPPO will now increase the activities to promote the import of organic products from India. In a huge country, such as India, it is perfectly sensible that SIPPO will now concentrate on a single niche (organic products) in the future in order to be effective.

This market-development project makes indeed the link between the INDOCERT-project and SIPPO. SIPPO (as the “last mile” to the European market) will be able to directly take over products and companies to be promoted) from the value-added chains established with the assistance of ICCOA and FiBL in the framework of this project. SDC and a number of Swiss NGOs (e.g. HEKS, Swissaid) are also involved in rural development projects using organic production methods. The project will of course also facilitate market access of their local partners. Some of them are already trustees of INDOCERT.
Furthermore there will be a collaboration between the Cleaner Production Centres (CPC) in Bangalore and Ahmedabad in all questions linked to quality assurance in the food-processing industry.

For WEHU there will also be interesting synergies with the planned organic market development project in Central America (with Intercooperation). It is foreseen to valorise the experience made in the two projects in a joint working group seco/FiBL/Intercooperation.