INTRODUCTION

The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has been implementing various activities to link small farmers in the Asia and Pacific region with premium markets. One premium market that continues to grow in Asia and the world is the market for organic produce. As a result, the number of producers that is interested in organic production is growing too. But there are a good number of challenges, not only in production but also in finance and marketing of the production.

In this context, FAO is organizing an International Symposium on Organic Supply Chain in Collaboration with APRACA, AFMA and NACF of Korea.

The “International Symposium on Marketing and Finance of the Organic Supply Chain” will be a forum for exchange of experiences of organic practitioners, marketers and financiers from around the region and a medium to learn what the best practices are, what works and what does not work in terms of marketing and financing organic production.

Topics will include contract farming, certification systems, participatory guarantee systems, farmers’ markets and other forms of direct marketing, export of organic produce, transition schemes, financing organic vis-à-vis non-organic, financing transition, educating the bankers, role of governments.

The Symposium aims to bring out and document the best of the regional experiences into the publication of the proceedings of the symposium.