Transcript Biological agriculture in the District of Aizkraukle and

Organic agriculture in the
District of Aizkraukle and
opportunities of development
Dzidra Kreismane,
Latvia University of Agriculture
Aizkraukle district in Latvia
Aizkraukle region
Why Aizkraukle district ?
1. River Daugava pass the district
Why Aizkraukle district ?
2. Many organic farms
3. There are prerequisites for development of
organic agriculture:
- safe and uncontaminated nature;
- close to markets;
- using of local raw materials and labour
force recourses;
- good co-operetion with advisery service
(learning, training, information, support);
- possibility for processing, etc.
4. The District Council is engaged in planning
the environment in the region
Characteristic of Aizkraukle district
-The District of Aizkraukle was founded in 1967.
- It consists of 3 towns and 19 villages.
- The number of population - 41546 inhabitants,
37 % living in towns and 63 % - in the countryside,
density of population - 16 inhabitants / km2
- The territory - 2566.8 km2,
53.9 % - covered by forests,
32 % - by land used in agriculture,
2.9 %- by water,
Directions for development in Aizkraukle
district
The potential of the natural resources has
favored development of:
*****forestry and wood processing;
*****power industry;
*****building material industry;
*****peat processing;
*****food product and food processing industries
Characteristic of farmers
~ 3500 peasants are employed in agricultural
production and ~ 4200 - in small holding farms, hereof
40 organic peasant farms (1%) and 6 organic small
holding farms.
The average total area of peasant farms comprises 25
ha of land, but almost in every village there is a big
farm.
In the LR Commercial Register 1411 farms or 36.4% of
all the peasant farms are registered.
Number of organic farms in Latvia
1200
1043
1000
800
550
number 600
352
400
219
200
39
63
78
1998
1999
2000
0
2001
year
2002
2003
2004
The biologically managed territory, ha
50000
45000
40000
35000
30000
area,ha 25000
20000
15000
10000
5000 1426
0
1998
48000
24422
16934
10549
1628
1999
4400
2000
2001
year
2002
2003
2004
Structure of organic farms in Latvia, 2003
150 - 250 ha
2%
100 - 150 ha above 250 ha
2%
4%
20 - 100 ha
52%
to 20 ha
40%
Enterprises of organic agriculture, 2004
Certification
In Latvia
In Aizkraukle
distr.
% from
total
1st year
farms
536
11
2
2nd year
farms
198
15
7,5
Certified
farms
309
20
6,5
Total
1043
46
4,4
Division of farms according to size in Aizkraukle
3,90% 0,10%
24,70%
71,30%
to 10 ha
11-50 ha
51-100 ha
above 100 ha
Occupation in farms of Aizkraukle district
Branches
Amount of
farms
% from total
Crop production
46
100
Vegetable growing
Fruit - growing
Milk production
17
15
30
37
33
65
Beef production
Pig - breeding
Poultry farming
11
7
7
24
15
15
Beekeeping
5
11
Conclusions and recommendations
1.The district is crossed by the Daugava River, therefore, it is
necessary to eliminate use of agricultural chemicals in order to
save the Baltic Sea from water pollution.
2. At Skrīveri, the Agricultural Research Institute is located
where researchers carry out research in the biological
cultivation of plants
3. There is a pronounced lack of processing enterprises. The
peasant farms sell the yielded milk to processing enterprises
and it is mixed together with conventionally yielded milk. The
same can be also said about other kinds of production. The
situation can be changed if ’’Daugava” Ltd. And otrher
enterprises turns to manufacturing organic products.
4. Opportunity to strengthen the market capacity is in
developing cooperation. The territorial evaluation of farms is
adequate. Cooperation might be started in the spheres of
perennials and growing cereal seeds, canola growing for
forage purposes and producing biofuel, in providing services
as well, etc..