Agricultura orgánica y desarrollo: un análisis comparativo entre países de América Latina

In recent years, both the number of organic agriculture hectares and the income generated by the consumption of organic food have increased worldwide. Latin America hasn’t been out of this tendency. As a consequence, it is relevant to define what would be the most appropriate strategic lines for ensuring the future progress of organic farming. This paper aims to achieve that objective through a comparative analysis of the organic farming sector evolution in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Costa Rica). In order to do this, we study three indicators groups on a cross-country analysis. Those groups are: i) general characterization of the sector, ii) level of regulative development and iii) public and associative support. The main result of this paper is that the consolidation of participatory networks formed by agents involved in the sector is very important for development of the organic farming industry. Even in the absence of domestic legislation, these networks facilitate the balanced growth of organic farming which, in turn, supports the achievement of broader goals in development.