Number of organic producers in Russian agribusiness sector grows to 177 in 2023 - Roskachestvo

MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax) - The number of producers of organic products in Russia's agribusiness sector grew by 18% to 177 in 2023, product quality agency Roskachestvo told Interfax.

Recalling that Russia's law on organic products went into effect in 2020, the agency said 262 certificates for various types of such products were issued in 2022 and the number of certificates rose by 123 to 385 in 2023.

Plant products accounted for 53% of all certified organic products, processed products made up 37% and animal products accounted for 8%.

"Any labelling of a product with the word 'organic' and its derivatives must be confirmed by the producer by going through the certification process. As of September 1, 2024, having an organic certificate also becomes mandatory for obtaining the right to use the terms 'eco,' 'bio' and their derivatives, as well as 'green,' in labelling," Roskachestvo said.

Producers of organic products are put on a special registry maintained by Russia's Agriculture Ministry.

Russia approved a strategy for developing production of organic goods through 2030 on July 4, 2023. Since then, the number of Russian and foreign producers wanting to certify their products to Russian standards for organic production has grown by several times, Roskachestvo said.

The strategy, which provides for a number of system measures on the part of the government to support this sector, aims to increase production of organic products to 114.5 billion rubles by 2030 from 9.1 billion rubles in 2021, with annual growth targeted at 20.7%. The area of land cultivated using organic farming methods is expected to expand to 4.292 million hectares from 655,500 hectares.