African farmers take advantage of international markets

The market for organic and fair-trade products in developed countries is expected to grow by about 5 to 10 % per year over the next three years, offering new opportunities for smallholder farmers in poor countries, according to FAO. Nearly 5000 West African farmers are now able to take advantage of the growing popularity of organic foods in industrialized countries thanks to a 2.4 million $ German-backed FAO programme that has helped them meet necessary certification and other requirements. FAO projects in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone helped farmer groups and small exporters overcome challenges and take advantage of the remunerative markets. They increased their technical skills and improved product quality, which enabled farmers to obtain organic and fair-trade certification. "Some farmer groups had never exported products before, at best they offered them to the local market at a low price. Most of them had a very low level of institutional capability, technical capacity and financial resources," said FAO's Trade Economist Pascal Liu. "Now most of the groups have legal status, meet regularly, keep records and are now made up of real members who pay dues."

The project focused on all stages of the supply chain from production, harvesting and packaging to certification and marketing. The vital part of the project was to pay for the costly certification in the conversion period and to support better hygienic conditions to comply with high international quality standards. "The project helped local farmers who normally expect direct financial help from institutions to adopt a more proactive attitude. Their economic situation and self-esteem has definitely improved because they can now sell their products on international markets at much better prices - something they could not even dream about only three years ago," Pascal Liu said. In Ghana, for example, some 30 small-scale pineapple farmers managed to increase their sales from 26 to 116 tonnes, after having obtained organic certification.

FAO