The course was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 18-23, 2012. The 24 participants were from national productivity organisations (NPO), ministries, accreditation agencies and certifiers, and from businesses active or interested in marketing of organic products.
Gerald A. Herrmann presented various topics e.g.:
- Global trends in demand for and production of organic food products: Key players and major markets and challenges for the Asian organic industry
- Chances and challenges in international trade of organic non-food products (e.g. cosmetics and textiles)
- General requirements for organic aquaculture production
- Inspection and certification procedures for smallholder group certification
- Integrity along the product chain
Gerald A. Herrmann was supported by the Asian expert Zejiang Zhou from China with whom he also implemented group workshops and trainings. Both also presented and discussed the role of IFOAM as global organic organization, its influence on regulatory and private guarantee systems and its today role of supporting harmonization of organic systems.
The course was organized by the Asian Productivity Organization (APO). The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) is an intergovernmental organization, which enhances the productivity of the countries in Asia and the Pacific and contributes to the sustainable socioeconomic development of the region. Member countries span from Iran and Mongolia to India and from Japan to Indonesia.
The APO publishes a regular newsletter, the APO News. In this newsletter, you can find an article about the training course.