Farmers were told at a conference in Tullamore yesterday that there were major opportunities for expanding their horticulture business into the organic area.
Mr Michael Maloney, chief executive officer of An Bord Glas, the Irish Horticulture Board, said that while organic produce was worth £8 million in a £242 million sector, more than 70 per cent of the produce was imported.
"There is a major niche here for import substitution and most of the produce which is being imported could easily be grown here," said Mr Maloney.
Mr Colin Dams, produce buyer for Tesco Ireland, told the conference that as a percentage of total produce sales, organic produce had grown from 1.59 per cent in February last year to 2.96 per cent in February this year.
Ms Gillian Jones, quality assurance manager, Organic Foods, Fishery Lane, Naas, warned growers, and those who were contemplating going into the business, that they had to maintain the highest possible standards.
The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Mr Noel Davern, in a message to the conference, said that in the National Development Plan, £6 million was being provided under regional programmes for the development of the organic sector.