By Alejandro Angulo
The recent signing between Mexico and Canada of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Recognition of Equivalence in Matters of Organic Products MdE was announced. It should benefit producers and consumers of organic products.
According to the information at hand, in Mexico there are over 46,000 producers, mainly small and medium-size production units. Products of plant origin, fungi, processed, and Mexican beekeeping may enter the Canadian market without the need to process the certification of the country of destination.
In Mexico the most widely produced organic products are coffee, corn, avocado, alfalfa, beans, agave, sorghum, sesame, grass, mangos, lemons, honey, bananas, chickpeas, and coconut. In fact, Mexico is one of the world’s leading exporters of coffee. The National Agrifood Health, Safety and Quality Service (SENASICA, in Mexico) recognizes as equivalent primary and processed products of Canadian plant and animal origin, certified under the Canadian Organic Regime (COR, in English). In equal measure, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recognizes organic products that are produced or processed in Mexico that are certified under the Organic Products Law (LPO) of the Ministry of Agriculture, and that bear the Organic Mexico seal.
In the meeting between SENASICA and the CFIA, they agreed that in the coming weeks they will send a list of the type and quantity of certified organic products to be marketed. It will include updated information from the accreditation and certification bodies recognized by both countries. The memorandum will be valid for one year, and the period may be extended by mutual agreement.
Notwithstanding the foregoing it must be remembered that since the first free trade agreement between Mexico-United States-Canada was signed, it is considered an unfair practice in commerce for a government or private entity to require a certificate from each other. Because of this, in the organic world organic seals appeared by government order (the first were in Israel and China). The aforementioned Memorandum of Understanding is a mutual recognition of certification procedures by governments. This is undoubtedly good news for Mexican producers, especially those who are small and medium-sized producers for whom long export certification procedures are expensive.
What is also interesting about this agreement is the streamlining of procedures for organic products to transit between the two countries. Now the US, one of the largest destination countries for organic products in the world, needs to join in.
An agreement of this nature contributes to strengthening healthy agriculture, both for humans and for the soil, which is going through a crisis of degradation and contamination. Undoubtedly, organic agriculture is the alternative that also generates income for small and medium-size producers in Mexico.
Organic farming is practiced in 190 countries, and almost 75 million hectares of agricultural land is under organic management by at least 3.4 million farmers. Global sales of organic food and drink exceeded €120 billion in 2020.
(Report 2023, INFOAM)
