May 13, 2022

Subsidies in the field of organic production

The President signed the law, which aims to regulate the production, processing, storage, transportation, labeling and sale of organic products, as well as conformity assessment and authorization. It is worth noting that this law does not apply to the production of organic products for personal consumption.

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan is the authorized state body in the field of organic products. The Ministry is entrusted with the authorization of the activities of conformity assessment bodies, as well as the formation and maintenance of the register of producers of organic products. The register of producers of organic products will be posted on the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

According to the law, the state will allocate subsidies for the production of certified organic products, and they will be provided to producers of products not classified as organic products, in the transition to organic production. Moreover, the state will provide information, consulting and certification services to producers of organic products;

The law establishes the following requirements for the production of organic products:

  • use of healthy animals and plants, safe products and raw materials of animal and plant origin;
  • use in the production of organic products technologies that meet the requirements of legislation on organic products and regulatory documents in the field of technical regulation;
  • preservation, restoration and improvement of soil fertility;
  • preservation of ecological systems in the selection of a particular type of organic products for production;
  • use of renewable natural resources, including products and wastes of plant and animal origin, in accordance with the requirements of legislation on organic products;
  • reducing the use of non-renewable natural resources.

The law prohibits the following activities in the production of organic products:

  • the use of synthetic substances, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and chemical food additives;
  • the use of methods of growing plant products without the use of soil;
  • use of ionizing radiation (sources);
  • the use of chemical methods of treating naturally growing plants;
  • use of substances consisting of sewage sludge, septic waste and other human waste as fertilizer;
  • use of land plots, water bodies and (or) their parts that have been contaminated with wastes, chemical and radioactive substances;
  • use of embryo transplants, cloning and genetic engineering methods, genetically engineered and transgenic organisms, as well as products manufactured using genetically engineered and transgenic organisms.