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.
