IBPS Clerk Prelims 2 Sep 2023 Shift 2 Paper

Question Numbers: 71-80
Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
There is a global growing demand and supply for organic foods. This has resulted from increased health awareness and food safety, a growing demand to protect the environment and animal welfare. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) defines organic production as a process “that relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects” (IFOAM, 2010). Marketing the product will provide the link that will satisfy both the demand and the supply. Thus marketing the products will provide the link between the producers and the consumers. While the marketing of these products is developed in the U.S.A, the Asian marketing is just developing. 
In most Asian countries, organic production is mainly for small farmers in order to assist them to be self-sufficient and improve the quality of the soil. It is mainly done for export. Organic food production in Asia is yet to develop. Though the Asian countries form 25 per cent of the members of (IFOAM) the area engaged in organic farming is still very small as by 2003 all the Asian countries had only utilised less than 1 per cent of all agricultural land in organic farming with the exception of China IFOAM, 2004). The local markets in Asia are not established and are only emerging. Marketing initiatives are in the process of being launched.
There are National Initiatives to develop the organic sector. There are initiatives by NGOs supporting to practice organic agriculture and training them on how to market organic food products. Most of the organic farming has support from the grassroots level. In most Asian countries there is a very rare national scale of organic production and only India has a government initiative. The Indian government (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APFPEDA)) initiative is only meant to assist in exporting of the organic food and not to develop the domestic market. APFPEDA offers training to producers and certification agencies, research and development services: promoting certification programs, developing policies, improving the quality of services, promoting Indian organic foods.
The main challenges facing organic food marketing are the pricing competition and logistics arrangements. The organic foods have to compete with other non-organic foods in terms of pricing, varieties and the frequency of production. The organic food products are expensive to produce. Their infrastructure is yet to be developed and thus it is hard for marketing organisations to sell them at a competitive price. The organic food products are expensive both in the Asian countries and in the US. In US organic foods are 10 to 30 per cent more expensive than the conventional food products (Dimitri & Oberholtzer, 209).
There are ways to develop and help support marketing organisations for organic food products in Asia. The local initiatives should provide those strategies that eliminate intermediaries, thus reducing the prices of the products and thus encouraging more buyers, while at the same time promoting the producers. Any non-commercial external funding should be accompanied by organisations own increase in capital investment. This assures continuity after the external funding is pulled out. Most of the marketing organisations start small whereby some do not even have an office and operate from home. This may be satisfactory to start with, but as the company grows, it should have an official location of operation.