Central Lab of Organic Agriculture

The Central Lab. of Organic Agriculture (CLOA) is part of the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC). The Ministry of Agriculture issued the ministerial decrees No. 1411–1412/2008 that delegate CLOA to promote, develop, control and organize organic agriculture in Egypt. Recently, the Egyptian Organic Law No. 12/2020 has been issued and the articles of which is controlling the movement of organic agriculture in Egypt. CLOA objectives are to ensure food safety and security, reduce the effects of climate change and reverse desertification, promote tree-planting and agroforestry, promote the use of organic local seed varieties, maintain and improve biodiversity, and sustain healthy ecological cycles. CLOA aims to integrate capacity building and knowledge dissemination through organizing training programs for the local farmers, stakeholders of private and public sectors in the fields of organic farm management, plant nutrition, recycling of farm residues, soil fertility and plant protection. CLOA multidisciplinary team undertakes research within the wider domain of organic agriculture with the objective of promoting organic sustainable production of various crops according and in equivalence to the international organic standards. In this discipline, CLOA produces pests and disease control bio-products, produce bio-fertilizers to maintain and enhance soil fertility on scientific basis, and trains farmers on organic farming best practices to increase awareness of organic agriculture principles and objectives. CLOA is also mandated to follow up on the registration of certification bodies working in Egypt to ensure good management of organic production and maintain the sustainability of the Egyptian product in global markets and also registering and controlling the inputs of organic agriculture; that is through the Directorate General of Organic Agriculture, with its four main sub-directorate - the Department of Registration, the Department of Following up, the Department of Quality Control and the Department of Organic Legislations.