Export of Organic Products from Africa

Farmers have been encouraged to cultivate more organic crops by Marg Leijdens, the Country Manager of EPOPA in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). She assured the farmers that there is a large market of organic produce in many countries. The prices would be much higher than for conventional products, which would be suited to fight poverty in African countries. EPOPA has assisted more than 40,000 farmers so far with developing organic farming by offering technical assistance and equipment to produce high quality crops. Also, farmers are helped to get certificates for organic produce export, which allows them to sell their crops abroad. There is also an interest to support produce like coffee, cocoa, cashew nut, pineapple, ginger, peanuts, honey, vanilla and sesame. Also, the organisation is looking for sustainable means to harvest tuna fish to export. There are 18 companies in the country which have been certified to export organic products to Europe. EPOPA, established in 1998, also develops the use of organic products in Zambia and Uganda.

http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2006/07/01/69414.html

Uganda’s AMFRI Farms has started to export processed food like apple banana puree, passion fruit juice and sliced pineapple to open up markets for the country’s organic products. The first lot of 13 tonnes was sent off to be processed to make a tropical yoghurt mix. The final product will be branded Ugandan and to be sold on Danish supermarket shelves, reports allAfrica.com. This is a joint effort by AMFRI Farms and Solhjulet (Denmark). Amfri Farms is also working on its dried food order to be sold in Ireland this month.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200606270865.html