High consumption of organic products in the major world economies, like the United States and Europe, represents opportunities for Latin America, a region that has enough experience in exporting these foods and that can anticipate an obesity crisis in the industrialized countries.
Lina Salazar, Specialist from the American Investment Corporation (IIC), believes that the consumption of organic products in these countries is greatly increasing.
Consumers in these economies are increasingly because they are now aware of the impact their decisions have on their health, the environment and the social equality,
explained Salazar.
According to this specialist, the market for organic products in the United States is the largest in the world. Sales increased from 3,000 million dollars in 2003 to 43,000 million dollars in 2015. Americans are demanding more organic foods, especially fruits, vegetables and dairy products.
Latin America and the Caribbean meet 17% to 20% of the world demand in organic products. In her blog, Salazar quoted a recent study from the ECLAC, in which it indicated that almost a quarter of the land cultivated with organic methods worldwide is located in the region, mostly in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Organic products have health benefits that go beyond economic opportunities.
Salazar said the Oxfam Food Index shows that while countries such as the United States or Canada lead the world in terms of affordability and quality of food, they also recorded the worst rates of obesity and diabetes.
A recent study published in Nature Plants indicates that although the performance of organic agriculture is less than that the conventional, fruits and vegetables grown with organic methods have higher nutritional quality, they are 22% to 35% more profitable and have positive impacts in the environment.