New Delhi: International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements

(IFOAM) & International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA), inaugurated the International Programme titled – ‘Organic Leadership Course for South Asia” (IFOAM-OLC) & commenced its first classroom session today in NCOF Campus (under the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt of India), Ghaziabad.

The event was also followed by a pre-launch of a book – ‘Organic Food Marketing in Urban Centres of India, which is a publication of an extensive market research study authored  by Ms Nina Osswald, a Research Associate at the Humboldt University, Berlin and Mr. Manoj Kumar Menon, Executive Director, ICCOA, India.

The OLC training will facilitate network-building and innovation, through interaction among the participants to share the latest trends in local and export markets, research, science and institutional developments emerging in the organic sector worldwide with special focus on South Asia.

The leadership course is a unique initiative organized in partnership with ICCOA and this year in collaboration with NCOF, Ministry of Agriculture.

IFOAM has designed this program to create future leaders for the organic sector in South Asia – with the objective to ensure resources to lead and drive the organic movement in Asia and worldwide. 24 participants from 12 countries will be attending this program. The duration of this programme is nine months & this will be a combination of classroom sessions along with webinars and the graduation ceremony will be held during the BioFach India at Bangalore in November 2013.

Speaking on the occasion Markus Arbenz, Executive Director, IFOAM, said “The organic movement in Asian market is getting stronger over time & through this leadership programme we want to encourage organizations and individuals in the organic sector be become more ready for leading the future growth and development.”  IFOAM is the umbrella organization for Organic Agriculture worldwide and based in Germany.

The book Organic Food Marketing in Urban Centres of India a collaboration between the Humboldt University Berlin, Germany and the International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA), Bangalore, provides an

insight into the current state and future prospects of organic food markets in urban India. The opportunity of this event today was used to pre-launch the book among the international and Indian audience before it will become more widely available through Pothi.com, Flipkart.com, ICCOA’s website and selected other retailers by April 15th.

“This book is a valuable resource for organic stakeholders including retailers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers, among others. It is also of great practical use to the average urban citizen interested in consuming sustainably”- said Manoj Kumar Menon, Co-author & Executive Director, ICCOA representing the authors.  Organic food is poised to take deeper root in urban India. A diverse range of supply chains exists in the country, ranging from long-standing grassroots and farmer-centric initiatives, to supermarkets and, more recently, community-supported and e-commerce approaches.