People around the world have been making a conscious decision to eat healthy and local –driving the global demand for organic food up by an average of 25 percent per year over the past decade.

Unfortunately, despite having no transport costs or additives, eating local or organic is considered an expensive ‘luxury’. Organic produce can cost up to three times their chemically-assisted cousin.

In Belarus, affordability is crucial as the average citizen spends around 40% of their disposable income on food.

It’s also important because in Belarus, cardiovascular diseases. cancers and diabetes are among the top killers, while almost 9 out of 10 deaths are “avoidable”. Obesity, smoking, harmful alcohol use and low physical activity are among the top behavioral non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors.

According to WHO, 61 and 60 percent of men and women respectively are already overweight.  With this statistic in mind, a shrewd parliamentarian recently asked, “Who will build the economy of the future if half the population is dying early?”

Ironically, Belarus is blessed not only with a rich agricultural heritage but also with a socially-minded land-use system that means Belarusians are only one relative away from pulling fresh produce from the ground.

In many villages, farmsteads and dachas, locals are still doing this the old-fashioned ‘chemical-free’ way – not because it’s ‘hip’ or for profit but simply because that is what has always been done.

But as the population is increasingly urban, it’s hard to follow the old-fashioned way. The organic option is becoming just a little bit easier though – with a wider selection of organic produce at major supermarkets and doorstep drops from local suppliers. This growing niche market has expanded in reflection of the Europe-wide trend.

There are currently 20 certified domestic manufacturers of organic produce in Belarus - including private farms, small holdings, and industrial greenhouse production facilities with a total of 1,500 hectares of land under “organic cultivation” – considerably less than 1 percent of the total.

We met with some of the ‘pioneers’ of organic farming here in Belarus – Elena and Vitaliy Sidorova, who run the family-owned SidSad organic business. They reflected on what’s preventing them from expanding the business: “It’s very labor-intensive, which means production costs are at least twice that of conventional farm.” Not using pesticides is also much more expensive.

Another problem is scale. Typically supermarket chains will not procure less than 500-kilo shipments – too big for all but the largest organic farms. In other countries, like Germany and Switzerland, farms create consortiums to achieve economies of scale. In Belarus, the law permits only relatives to form such consortiums.

Elena believes that the Government should give a little “helping hand”. “We need new regulations that differentiate the tax thresholds and price ceilings between organic and conventionally-grown products, based on the proven health benefits of eating organic,” she argues. “That way we can make eating organic an attractive health proposition and an attractive cost proposition.”

Such help may be just around the corner. Experts at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food have been working on a draft law on organic farming, which - if codified – would elevate the status of the organic certification across the country.

UNDP Belarus promotes a number of initiatives that support organic farming, sustainable land use and healthy lifestyles for old and young; producing organo-mineral fertilizers for local farms; teaching school children how to farm organically; and supporting the ‘green regeneration’ of private farms in the Chernobyl region. In the future – with generous financial support from the European Union – we will continue to support to social enterprises, including organic farming.

The countryside is a source of great national health and wealth which – if properly harnessed – can help Belarusians achieve the high-tech, green, sustainable and knowledge-based economy of tomorrow. Expanding access to organic production is not just a great opportunity but a vital necessity.