ECUADOR 

Location

Ecuador is located in the north west of South America. The country is bordered by Colombia to the north, Peru to the east, Chile to the south and the North Pacific Ocean to the west. Ecuador has a total area of 110, 860 sq km. Climate varies with altitude, tends to be cooler in elevated areas, and more tropical along coastlines.

Agricultural sector

Ecuador's main agricultural products include bananas, whole, fresh cow milk, indigenous cattle meat, plantains, indigenous pig meat, sugar cane, cocoa beans and maize.

Brief overview of organic farming

There are 44,661 hectares of organic land in Ecuador and approximately 2,427 organic farms operating in the country. Organic land makes up 0.6% of the country's arable land. The organic market sector in Ecuador includes different groups of actors, namely small farmers and producers possessing large quantities of land. The Ministry of Agriculture also plays a big role as it is recognised as the national authority for organic agriculture.


Brief overview of key organic products

The most prominent products of Ecuador's organic market are cocoa, shrimp, banana and coffee. Ecuador also produces products originating from Amazonia such as mushrooms under wild collection, quinoa and other Andean cereals, mango, sugar cane and vegetables.

The network

Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Acuacultura y Pesca (MAGAP)
Av. Amazonas y Eloy Alfaro
Tel.: 593-2 396-0100/396-0200
e-mail: webmaster@mag.gov.ec
web site: www.magap.gov.ec

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