PARAGUAY
Location
Paraguay is located towards the south of South America. It is
surrounded by Brazil to the east; Argentina to the southwest; and
Bolivia to the north. Paraguay has a total area of 406,752 sq km.
Climate varies between subtropical and temperate with rainfall
tendencies in the east and more semi arid weather in the west.
Agricultural sector
Paraguay's main agricultural products are soybeans, indigenous
cattle meat, cassava, indigenous pig meat, whole fresh cow milk,
wheat, maize, hen eggs, sugar cane and indigenous chicken
meat.
Brief overview of organic farming
There are 17,705 hectares of organic land in Paraguay and
approximately 3,490 organic farms operating in the country. Organic
land makes up 0.1% of the country's arable land. 90 % of organic
production is carried out by small farmers. The domestic market for
organic products remains small, nevertheless several supermarkets
do sell organic products such as sugar and mate tea. The Ministry
of Agriculture is working in collaboration with Arasy Organic to
strengthen technical capacity in the organic sector.
Brief overview of key organic products
Major organic products include sugar; this has helped Paraguay
significantly as th sugar market share had been falling due to
reduced prices of sugar. The domestic market for organic products
is minute but includes vegetables, sugar, mate tea.
The network
Asociación de Productores Orgánicos (APRO)
NGO Altervida
Itapúa 1372 e/Primer Presidente y Río Monday-Narrio Trinidad
Postal code : 3132
Asunción
Tel. : (595 21) 298 842/3 - 281 271
Fax: (595 21) 298 845
E-mail: info@altervida.org.py
Web site: www.productosorganicos.org.py
References
- CIA FactBook, 31.05.07 - https://www.cia.gov
- FAO, 24.10.2006: Key Statistics of Food and Agriculture External
Trade. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), Statistics Division - http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/country.html?lang=en
- Yussefi, Minou and Willer, Helga, Eds.: The World of Organic
Agriculture: Statistics and emerging trends