The Spanish government has allocated €80m (US$95.2m) to boost organic farming in the country by 2006.


Most of the money will be used to tackle problems such as the shortage of human resources and experts, complex regulations and insufficient investments, as well as training for farmers and information for consumers.


The amount of land in Spain devoted to organic farming was 665,000 hectares at the end of 2002, compared with 4,235 hectares in 1991. The number of organic farms in Spain was 16,521 at the end of 2002, compared with 396 in 1991.


Spanish organic farming generates annual turnover of €172.9m, reported the Spanish News Digest.