Promoting the export of organic products from Africa
The Export Promotion of Organic Products from Africa (EPOPA) programme is funded by Sida and implemented by Agro Eco in cooperation with the swedish advisory company Grolink. It aims to give African smallholder farmers a better livelihood through developing local and international organic markets. The increase in agricultural production benefits rural communities, thus the farmers. By developing an Internal Contol System (ICS) within the EPOPA projects large groups of smallholders can be certified. A very important aspect is the cost efficient and reliable certification of these groups. Thousands of smallholder farmers get a premium price for their certified organic crop. In general, yields increase because of the better practices. They get a more transparent price setting from the exporter who buys more directly and they are paid cash in hand. EPOPA works with different types of exporters like co-operative unions, local and expatriate entrepreneurs and subsidiaries of international trading houses. Most projects last 3-year with participation of large groups of smallholders that are organized by the exporters, with assistance of EPOPA technical consultants.
| Implemented by |
Louis Bolk Institute - Agro Eco
(Louis Bolk Institute)
|
| Dates |
Sep 1997
-
Dec 2008
|
| Countries |
Tanzania
,
Uganda
|
| Project Scope |
Subsectoral/Supply Chain
Sub-Regional
Regional
National
Multi-National
Local/Community
|
| Project Target |
Standard setting bodies
Private enterprises
NGOs
Government ministries
Farmers and farmer groups
Cooperatives, associations, federations
Conformity assessment bodies
|
| Documents |
|
| Contact |
Deepa van Staalduinen - d.vanstaalduinen@agroeco.nl
|