ANNEXURE I:

CRITERIA TO EVALUATE INPUTS TO ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

1. The inputs (products and/or substances) to organic agriculture must be certified as organic or acknowledged as products of non-organic origin approved as inputs into certified organic agriculture by Ecocert-Afrisco.

2. If the input (products and/or substances) to organic agriculture is not an organic input or certified or approved by Ecocert-Afrisco, but allowed by the prescribed practices in these standards, then the following criteria (where applicable) must be used to evaluate the input --

   1. the input must be essential for achieving or to fulfil specific needs or requirements for specific purposes which cannot be satisfied by the practices outlined in these standards;
   2. the input must be regularly evaluated to determine whether there are alternatives available that are certified as organic or more in line with the principles of organic production, especially where the input is of non-organic origin allowed by these standards;
   3. the input must be able to satisfy the principles of organic production as indicated under the definition for “organic” in these standards;
   4. the inputs must be of plant, animal, microbial or mineral origin which were produced by the following processes --
      -           physical
      -           enzymatic;
      -           microbial; and
      may not be synthetic (i.e. a substance that is formulated or manufactured by a chemical process or by a pro­cess that chemically changes a substance extracted from naturally occurring plant or animal sources:  Provided that this requirement shall not apply to substances created by naturally occurring biological processes);
   5. the inputs must not be genetically modified organisms and products derived therefrom (i.e. organisms or products produced through techniques in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur natu­rally by mating and or natural recombination);
   6. the input must not be from industrial management systems that are heavily reliant on veterinary and feed inputs not permitted in organic agriculture (i.e. “factory farming”);
   7. the use of irradiation is not allowed in production and processing of inputs;
   8. the use of the input must not result in, or contribute to, unacceptable effects on, or contamination of, the environment (must contribute to the improvement of landscape and biodiversity)
   9. the use must not have unacceptable effects on the quality and food safety of the final product;
   10. with the exception of feed, feed additives, processing aids for the feed and other products used in animal nutrition, legally required inputs and treatments (i.e. where there are no legal alternatives) to plants, animals, buildings, equipment and facilities are allowed and may include GMO’s and products derived from GMO’s;  and
   11. inputs used must comply with any other relevant legi­slation applicable to the products/substances, and in the absence thereof the use must be in accordance with good practices.