About the Policy Toolkit

This toolkit is a resource for Pacific governments at all levels – national, regional, and municipal – to investigate how organic agriculture and trade can be supported through public policies and programs. It is based on experiences of public policy development worldwide over more than four decades.  The toolkit is also relevant for organic agriculture advocates to learn about supportive policy measures and to engage in dialogue and strategic planning with their governments.  Users of this toolkit will gain a global understanding of support policies and assistance in developing the most suitable strategies for the conditions in their countries.

This toolkit is NOT about how to grow, process and market organic products. Check other sections of the POETCom website for resources on those topics. 

See the FAQs for information on the toolkit’s development.

The toolkit is organized in the following main sections.

• Foundation:  This section prepares the user with information and awareness necessary to support a strategic planning process for policy development.  It includes tutorials on organic agriculture, organic principles, a global overview of government support, and information on public-private collaboration.
• Strategic Planning:  In this section users will find an overview of the strategic planning process, guidance, and examples of planning components and strategic organic plans.
• Strategic Actions:  In the section on Policy Strategies an array of possible strategic actions is presented. These are in four categories.  “Push” actions are related to increasing organic production.  “Pull” actions are related to increasing demand for organic products.  “Enabling” actions focus on developing a good context for the growth of organic agriculture.  Actions to “eliminate negatives impacts” in current government policies are the fourth category.                                                                                                                                                                                          

*  The introduction page for each main section includes a folder with the section’s main files for downloading and reading offline. 

Navigating the Toolkit

Users can navigate the toolkit starting with the tabs on this page. The toolkit is also depicted graphically as the Organic Agricultural Policy Tree.  Click on the image on the left to enter the Policy Tree.  Then click on the title of the Policy Tree to read an overview.  Navigate the tree by moving the cursor over the main labels in the tree, starting with “Foundation” and then moving through “Principles” and “Potentials” etc.  To continue to navigate through the tree, use the back arrow key on the upper left to return to the Policy Tree graphic.