Leading by example

WHAT:

The Regional Observatory was set up to to simplify the coordination among the players in the organic sector, including farmers, the Apulia region, certification bodies and consumers. The Observatory has the following objectives: monitoring of the regional organic sector; data management and statistics through the Biobank Open Project; connecting to the National Organic Informatics System and Control System; establishing guidelines for organic production; and providing an information desk.

WHERE:

Bari, Apulia region, Italy

WHO & HOW:

The observatory aims to monitor and organize the activities related to organic farming at the regional level. The Apulia region was in difficulty for managing the documentation of around 11,000 farmers, and consequently the administrative activities were delayed. The initiative was born as a necessity to simplify the coordination among the players in the organic sector, including farmers, the Apulia region, certification bodies and consumers.

Biobank Open Project is a database on organic operators’ info – it contains the farm profile, surfaces, crops, annual production plan, annual processing plan, adviser contact, control body, etc. Biobank was designed to allow the online management of notifications related to activities in organic sector, the annual production programs, the various communications and documentation related to organic farming. The project reached its objectives by being paperless, furnishing the necessary information to the players in the organic sector in real-time, and for being synchronized with SIB system of the MiPAAF as well as with certification bodies at national level. The platform offers to the farmers the opportunity to display and promote their products, so it plays the role of a virtual “vetrina”. A new experimental system for traceability of the organic agrifood products is on-going in the frame of the project.

The main stakeholders are about 11,000 regional organic operators, the inspectors of Apulia region, 2,000 technicians/consultants of farmers, 16 certification bodies, and the consumers. The main obstacle is the unsettled annual budget dedicated to the management of the Observatory that could be resolved through a new Organic Action Plan.

The Regional Observatory for the Development of Organic Agriculture in Apulia Region was set up in 2007. It is part of a National Organic Action Plan funded by MiPAAF, to develop the Rural Policies of the Apulia region, in collaboration with the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (MAIB). It supports the implementation of measure 11 “Organic farming” under the Rural Development Programmes 2014-2020.

MORE INFO
The Regional Observatory for the Development of Organic Agriculture