Public certification of organic agriculture in the state of Minas Gerais, southeast of Brazil
Keywords:
Family Agriculture, Assessment of organic compliance, Regulation of organic production, technical assistance and rural extensionAbstract
The public certification of organic production occurs in few countries, among them Brazil. The
objective of this work was to evaluate the organic public certification carried out by the IMA
(Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária), which in the case of family farmers is exempt from the certification
rate. Although the number of family farmers certified by the IMA is small (25 farmers)
compared to the total number of farmers in the State, the IMA and EMATER-MG partnership
allowed more farmers access to organic certification in 2016 and shows the importance of integrating
policies Agroecology and organic production. The number of organic producers certified
by audit in the period from 2014 to 2016 has reduced by more than 36% in the State. On
the other hand, there was more than 2.4% growth of family farmers linked to OCS (social control
organizations), and more than 195% related to SPG (Participatory guarantee systems). The
major challenges are the integrated public policies for agroecology and organic production.
