Annex 4: Case study “Organic Farming” - ITAS

KOAN and shown to be a promising approach [Bues 2007, p.21]. It offers the possibility to
obtain premiums for organic production without costly certification by a third party.
Consumers subscribe to the direct delivery of organic products to their home, whereby quality
is guaranteed through a Participatory Guarantee System [IFOAM 2006 in Bues, 2007, p.21].
A further advantage is the avoidance of the strict trading conditions set up by outlets such as
supermarkets.
Key restrictions / Unused potentials / Restricting framing conditions
Abele et al [2007, p.153] cite Parrot and van Elzakker [2003], when they describe the
constraints in Africa as: “poor quality and badly maintained roads and vehicles, rail links and
rolling stock all pose problems for transportation. Lack of refrigeration, erratic power
supplies, poor communication systems, underdeveloped banking and credit systems and,
sometimes, political and economic instability, all raise serious and often insuperable
problems.”
According the FAO/ITC/CTA Abele et al [2007] assumed that the following constraints apply
to the establishment and sustainability of commercial Organic Agriculture in Africa:
“Such constraints are:
- Lack of experience in intensive organic production in general and especially of fruits
and vegetables
- Lack of experience in handling and exporting fresh produce
- Lack of professional management
- Diseconomies of scale in exporting small quantities, e.g. for test exports
- Poor communication between foreign importers and exporters
- Competition from technically more advanced neighbouring countries (e.g. South
Africa)
- Poor negotiation skills and judgement of negotiation power of exporters, e.g. cases
where prices are increased significantly after first successful trial shipments, and
markets were lost
- Lack of familiarity with international markets, including knowledge of the organic
marketplace overseas
- Lack of information for the potential importers, for example, on timing of production
(Which is locked into the main harvest), and estimated quantities of supply and prices
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