Jack Juma and Samuel Ndungu.pdf

Organic Certification as a Value
Addition Tool for Market Access of
Natural Products
PRESENTATION BY
Jack Juma & Samuel Ndungu
Kenya Organic Agriculture Network
(KOAN)

ABOUT KOAN
• KOAN founded in 2004, as a national coordinating
body, representative of the
organic sector in Kenya
• KOAN’s main role is to coordinate,
facilitate and provide leadership and
professional services to all its members
and other stakeholders in the Kenyan
organic sector.

ABOUT KOAN: What We do
• Facilitate provision of technical advisory services
in the areas of production, certification and
marketing.
• Coordinate organic certification and inspection
services acceptable at both the national and
international levels
• Create public awareness on the benefits of
organic agriculture.
• Coordinate, harmonize and facilitate a unified
training programme in organic agriculture in
Kenya.

Why organic in natural
products?

‘ Holistic sustainability is the primary focus of organic
agriculture. The organic agriculture principles of health,
ecology, care and fairness clearly define this.
Sustainable wild harvest of materials for the food, body
care, flavouring, fragrance and nutraceutical markets of the
West can provide income generation to alleviate rural
poverty in remote and economical depressed regions.
The implementation of organic and sustainable harvest
standards, with targeted fair-trade orientated marketing,
can assist in securing the socio-economic stability of rural
communities and the natural environment’.

Organic standards
• Organic standards have been used to
create agreement on what ‘organic’ claim on
a product means.
• Regional groups of organic farmers and
their supporters began developing organic
standards as early as 1940s.
• Currently there are hundreds of private
standards worldwide

Organic standards
• More than 60 countries have come up with
organic standards as technical regulation.
• Today IFOAM basic standards and CODEX
alimentarius guidelines for organically produced
foods provide the base for both private
standards and national regulations.
• East Africa Organic Product Standards have
been developed and gazetted through bureau of
standards in East Africa. It is a step towards
negotiating for equivalence with other
international standards e.g. EU

New trends
• Standards are going beyond quality to
responsibility requirement, hence social
standards gaining prominence
• Wild harvested standards are equally
increasingly being developed as either part
organic, social e.g. fair wild standards or own
distinct standards such as FSC standard.
• There are also specific standard requirements
for certain wild harvested products e.g. honey
• Regional/ National standards are being formed
from the international guidelines to make
standards more relevant

Organic Certification
• Organic certification improves
market access and
competitiveness for products.

Organic certification enhances smallholder
organization and management of farmer
associations

Organic certification is used as a tool
for accessing niche markets.

Is used as a Quality management tool
Farmer
harvests
Transportation
to warehouse
Risk Analysis in the Product Flow
Warehouse: storage
& consolidation
(combination in
bigger lots)
Drying at farm
Collection
(Procurement)
Processing &
packing
15-23
Packing/Storage
at farm
Transport of
product to
collection centre
by farmer
Export: transport,
packing of
container

Due to inbuilt traceability, organic certification
leads to consumers’ trust in organic production
system and products

Organic Agriculture ensures
sustainability

The Internal Control System
Internal Control System (ICS)
• Binding committment of farmers to adhere to organic
standard
• Internal inspection and field advise for farmers
• Internal approval and handling of noncompliances
• Documentation of farmer and farm data
• Product flow control
Farmers in the organic project

Note:
• Cost of individual certification disproportionally
high in relation to sales value.
• Homogenity of members (location, production
system, size of holding).
• In principle, only small farmers (by local
standards); larger farms can belong to group but
must always be inspected externally each year.
• Usually common marketing system

Record Keeping is critical
• Rich Botanical Resources
• Unique environmental benefits – biodiversity,
habitat preservation
• Development of natural products will mitigate
climate change and assist communities to
devise risk management techniques.
• Number of supportive initiatives within the
government, NGO and commercial sectors

All collection areas are mapped

Types of Smallholder Projects
Cooperative
or Farmers Association
operates ICS
Processor
Exporter
operates ICS
Contract Production

Opportunities in the Domestic
market: Farmers markets.

Organic farmers market
• Since January 09 every end-month
Saturday

Retail Outlets:

Restaurants

Trends in Organic agriculture:
Markets
• “Organic is a niche, but a very profitable
niche. Give consumers what they truly
want/need and they will dig deeply into
their pockets”
Jerry Dryer, J/D/G Consulting, in "Organic Lessons," Prepared Foods,
January 2003
www.preparedfoods.com/archives/2003/2003_1/0103organic.htm.
• Global market for organic food and beverages
hit 23m USD in 2002
• This was a 10% increase over the previous year
5/19/2009 25

Organic sector growth rate in the EU
• 1989-1991 107%
• 1992-1994 60%
• 1995-1997 70%

Distribution of Global Organic
Agricultural Land by Continent 2008
Asia
10%
Latin America
16%
North America
7%
Europe
24%
Africa
1%
Oceania
42%
Source: FiBL/IFOAM Survey 2008
27

Organic Farms by Continent
2006
Africa
24%
Asia
13%
North America
2%
Europe
28%
Oceania
1%
Latin America
32%
Source: FiBL/IFOAM Survey 2008
28

Organic Agriculture Worldwide 2006
EU reg NOP JAS
E. Africa
China India Canada
S. Africa M. East
Australia
Australia
29

Global market growth for organic food
& drinks
• Global demand
growing with sales
increasing by over
5 billion US $
• International sales
in 2006: 38.6
billion US $
• Consumer
demand
concentrate in
North America and
Europe
North America
45%
Other
3%
Source: Organic Monitor/Sahota 2008
Europe
52%
30

What are the opportunities?
• Wild Harvests
These could include the following
• Honey and beeswax
• Gums and resins
• Fruits e.g. mangoes
• Medicinal crops e.g. Aloe Vera
• Oils crops/trees including: Kigeria
(Sausage Tree/Muratina), baobab
5/19/2009 31

Opportunities cont’d
• Indigenous fruits are important source of sugar,
oils, minerals and vitamins and are known to
play important role in food nutrition
• Vitamin C content in Sclerocarya birrea (Marula)
is 5 times that in Citrus spp.
• Despite the documented benefits of fruits,
FAOSTAT 2002 database portrays East Africa to
be far below this target (200g/person/day) with
an average consumption of 36 g/person/day.

• Herbs and spices
including African
Birds Eye, paprika
• Livestock products:
fisheries, game meat?
• The local market
demand is growing
Opportunities
5/19/2009 33

Naturallyafrican branding?