Performance of organic farming in developing countries: a case of organic tomato value chain in Lebanon

Gumataw Kifle Abebe,Mirella Aoun,Andrew Traboulsi

doi:10.1017/s1742170521000478

Abstract

The future of food value chains has increasingly been reliant on the wider adoption of sustainable farming practices that include organic agriculture. Organic farming in developed countries is standardized and occupies a niche in agro-food systems. However, such a standard model, when transferred to developing countries, faces difficulty in implementation. This study aims to investigate the factors affecting the expansion of organic agriculture in Lebanon, a Middle Eastern context, and analyzes the economic performance of organic tomato among smallholder farmers. Accordingly, the study was able to determine the production costs, map the organic value chain and assess the profitability of organic tomato by comparing it with the conventional tomato in the same value chain. The study finds organic farming being increasingly expensive primarily due to the inherently high cost of production in Lebanon and the inefficient organization of the organic value chain. As a result, we suggest a blended approach of organic farming with other models, in particular agro-tourism, as a local solution to the sustainability of organic farming in developing countries with limited resources (land and labor) and characterized by long marketing channels. In countries such as Lebanon, a country endowed with rich cultural heritage and natural and beautiful landscapes, the agro-tourism model can harness organic farming and tourism activities. We also propose the adoption of local collective guarantee systems for organic production as a way to alleviate the costs of third-party auditing in Lebanon.

Highlights

Global issues such as climate change, food security and food safety are at the forefront of various policy and academic debates
This study aims to identify the factors affecting the expansion of organic agriculture and analyze the economic performance of organic tomato in Lebanon
Apart from production costs, different factors play a role in these high prices, some of which are better perceptions toward organic produce, but most of all the productivity issue, as organic tomato yield being less by 60% than the conventional and the higher risk that the producer encounter in organic farming due to the lack of effective inputs

Summary

Introduction

Global issues such as climate change, food security and food safety are at the forefront of various policy and academic debates. Organic agriculture has been popularized as an innovative approach to maintain the environment and human health as well as become a source of sustainable global food supply in the 21st century (Gomiero et al, 2011; Reganold and Wachter, 2016; Shennan et al, 2017). Questions continue to be raised about the appropriateness of organic farming to feed the growing world population, which is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050 (Connor and Mínguez, 2012; Connor, 2013). This question is even more relevant for developing countries where population is rising and poverty is rampant (Vanlauwe et al, 2014). The main criticism against organic farming lies in its relatively lower yields (and the need for more land to fill potential food supply gaps) and higher prices for consumers (de Ponti et al, 2012; Seufert et al, 2012; Ponisio et al, 2015)

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