Experts’ opinion on chances of Kazakhstan in global organic food market
The issue of reorientation of the Kazakhstani market to organic products was considered during a seminar organized by Competence Center of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan.
There are more than 60 farmers growing organic plants, such as oats, flax, sunflower and medicinal herbs in Kostanay, Akmola, North Kazakhstan and East Kazakhstan regions. While in Kazakhstan there is no statistics on the volume of eco-products produced.
However, the products should be certified to export to Europe, that’s why Competence Center jointly with the Committee for Technical Regulation of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development and the Union of Organic Producers held a series of seminars with participation of experts from Lithuania. These steps have been done to explain export procedures for business and retrain employees.
As it turned out, there are only 15 companies certifying domestic product. The nearest centers are located in Kiev, Vilnius and Germany. Kazakhstan has its own center, but it is not accredited in the EU.
“The Center has not issued any certificates for 1.5 years. Kazakhstan has a Center, but it is not accredited in the EU. They agree that we have organic products but we need to prove that they comply with the standards of organic farming,” Arsen Kerimbekov, director of Competence Center LLP of the Atameken, said.
Virginia Lukšienė - an expert of the Lithuanian company Ekoagros, which certifies Kazakhstani products, told about the certification process. A key principle in Europe and the United States is the elimination of chemicals and environmental protection.
“Our inspector comes to the farm, takes samples, fills in the protocol, returns back to the institution. In the laboratory we give an assessment of the expert opinion for compliance with the main requirements of organic production. If it complies, then a certificate for organic products is issued, which is valid for two years,” Virginia Lukšienė said.
However, due to the fact that Kazakhstan has a status of risky countries, the audit is carried out twice.
“We have to do two checks and take samples of the products twice a year,” she said.
According to Arsen Kerimbekov, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine have got a status of risky countries as fraudsters had tried to sell products that did not meet the standards of bio-products.
Currently, Kazakhstan supplies European countries with products worth 10 million euros per year while the country's potential is 200 million euros per year.
The cost of certification costs an entrepreneur at least 5 thousand euros.
“The Atameken set the task of reducing the cost of the certification process. The transition to organic production takes three years for farmers and only the harvest of the third year is allowed for sale. During this time you earn nothing. In Europe the farmers receive subsidies during this period, but we do not need them,” Arsen Kerimbekov said.
Seminars on organic farming are planned to be held in Petropavlovsk, Kokshetau and Pavlodar in March.
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