Number of eco farms rises by around a third: ministry

The number of ecological farms has risen this year by around 30 percent to around 3,500, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The number of bio food producers has also climbed by around a third to reach 643, it added in a report on the sector. The ministry estimates that ecological farms now account for 10 percent of cultivated land with producers accounting for 1.0 percent of consumer food. Those percentages could rise to 15 percent and five percent over the next five years, the ministry predicts.