In Western countries, “organic” is a major buzz word when it comes to food products. People choose products with organic labels for environmental, health and quality reasons. Whatever the reasons, Western shoppers are often willing to put their money behind them.
In East Africa, “organic” is the norm. Across Uganda visitors will see farmers hoeing, planting and harvesting small plots of land by hand. Along the streets of Kampala, stalls and carts overflow with small red tomatoes, fresh juicy pineapples and tasty avocados. Bustling markets are filled with chemical-free fruits and vegetables that have been grown locally.
Connecting to the Global Organic Food Market
The question for Uganda quickly forms: how can these small-scale farmers connect to the ballooning global market for organic foods?
NOGAMU — the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda — is an umbrella organization that was formed as a response to that question.
“We began in 2001, and it was basically a response to the unfolding international organic markets. Stakeholders came together including exporters, community-based organizations, training organizations, and other people who felt it would help to bring all the actors together under one umbrella to take advantage of the opportunities in the market,” explained Charity Namuwoza, NOGAMU’s international marketing officer.
According to Namuwoza, Uganda is already leading the rest of Africa in terms of having the highest number of certified farmers. However, the gap between Uganda’s potential for organic exports and what the country currently exports nags at him.
“Today the international market is estimated to be $63 billion U.S. dollars. As of last year, Uganda exported about $42 million worth of organic products. You can see that the gap between what the global demand is and what we’ve managed to export is huge,” Namuwoza stated.
The products are already in Uganda, so in order to shrink this gap, NOGAMU does not need to create more organic products. NOGAMU’s primary objective is to formalize the organic farming that already takes place and help farmers connect to the demand for organic products.
“People had the products but they couldn’t sell because there was no evidence of certification,” Namuwoza said.
Although NOGAMU does not provide international certification, they work with farmers all over Uganda to prepare them to meet the standards that independent accrediting organizations demand. According to Namuwoza, 90 percent of farmers connected to NOGAMU practice traditional farming — and traditional farming methods “are about 80 percent of 1 actual organic farming.”
“Our organization alone has a network of about 1.2 million smallholder farmers. About 200,000 of them are certified by international standards, and over one million of the farmers are doing sustainable agriculture. It only needs a little push for them to acquire international certification,” Namuwoza added.
Creating an Environmental Mindset
In order to help farmers fully achieve organic standards, NOGAMU trainers have to work on a few key areas. The major difference between a traditional farmer and an organically certified farmer is environmental awareness.
“One of the key things we have to do is create a mindset that the environment is important . . .For example, improving soil fertility. Traditional farmers are so used to the culture of planting without thinking about soil fertility. Organic farming demands that you improve soil fertility,” Namuwoza explained.
The second major difference between traditional farmers and organic farmers is organization.
“Ninety percent of our farmers are smallholder farmers. If you want to link them to the market, we have to do what we call market orientation for the farmer. We help them focus on one or two commodities which are commercially viable and have a market opportunity waiting,” Namuwoza said.
“They grow it in groups; you can’t have a smallholder farmer grow coffee alone and want to sell to a serious buyer. We get groups of five hundred or so farmers together, and depending on their acreage it could even be as few as thirty or fifty. As a group they undergo certification and they sell collectively.”
Grouping Farmers for Growth
This group arrangement requires a cultural shift for many farmers. In general, Namuwoza claims that farmers tend to be individualistic and resist growing and selling products in groups.
“It’s difficult for farmers to come together, except where there is a market incentive. It takes you telling them, ‘Here is a market. It needs this certification requirement, so you have to do A,B,C,D. You have to generate this quantity, and you can’t generate it alone.'”
On one side, NOGAMU helps Ugandan farmers prepare to engage with processors and exporters. On the other side, NOGAMU stays in touch with what consumers are looking for. Since 80 percent of their production is export-oriented, with 90 percent of items like coffee and spices being exported, NOGAMU keeps a finger on the pulse of the international organic market. Shifts in the market, such as Western consumers’ growing guilt about environmental footprints, influence the decisions NOGAMU makes.
In response to another challenge, NOGAMU has begun to focus on dried fruits and fruit pulp. Dried fruits have a long enough shelf life to survive a trip across the ocean with lots of time to sell afterward. Fruit pulp can also be frozen before being shipped. Since dried fruit is used in the production of yogurts, baby foods and snacks, it also captures a larger market segment.
Besides international markets, NOGAMU also seeks to connect with and expand the local and regional market. As Uganda’s middle class grows, NOGAMU wants to ensure that the demand for organically certified products grows with it.
“The potential for the local organic market to grow is huge — it’s big, it exists, it’s there. We are even importing organic products from different countries: tea, nuts, coffee, spices. That tells you that there is a growing demand, and the potential can be further exploited,” Namuwoza stated confidently.
Looking back on the past thirteen years of NOGAMU’s existence, Namuwoza believes that the organization has already benefited the different players involved: farmers, processors and exporters. If current trends continue, the future looks bright for organic farming, but it’s going to take a bit more convincing.
“We’ll have to explain [to customers], ‘Look: this is the line between what is organic and what is traditionally produced.’ We need labeling, sensitization and promotions, and this is something that we’ve already started,” Namuwoza asserted. “The global demand for organic products is huge and it’s growing at one of the fastest rates — on average between 15 to 25 percent.
“We continue to be outward looking. We sniff the market opportunities out there, and then we work backwards to work with our members to take advantage of those markets.”