The first congress of the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association (VOA)was held in Hanoi on May 22, electing a 19-member executive boardfor the 2012-2017 period.

Ha Phuc Mich , Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers’ Association (VFA) was elected as VOA Chairman.

Addressingthe congress, VFA Chairman Nguyen Quoc Cuong highly valued the role oforganic production in the development of sustainable agriculture,affirming that organic production is the target of the country’sagriculture.

Representatives from the International Federation ofOrganic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) stressed the need forestablishment of a national organic agriculture organisation, saying itensures the development of the organic sector and benefits Vietnam .

Thefirst VOA congress outlined its key tasks as increasing promotion ofinformation on Party and State policies and domestic and internationalinformation relating to organic agriculture, as well as expandinginternational cooperation in organic agriculture.

It also agreedto provide knowledge on organic agriculture to its members andconsultancy to the Party and State on mechanisms and policies to create alegal corridor for Vietnam ’s development of organic agriculture.

Bythe end of 2009, IFOAM had certified 160 countries around the world inorganic agriculture, with 37.2 million hectares of organic agricultureland or 0.9 percent of the world’s agriculture land.

In Vietnam, 14,000 hectares have been put under organic cultivation, accountingfor 0.14 percent of the country’s agricultural land. Of this,aquaculture makes up 7,000 hectares. Thirteen producers are qualifiedfor organic recognition and they are producing shrimps, basa fish, teaand cashew nuts./.