Nigeria Content Online

Before 2005, Paully
Appea-Kubi was a local producer of dried pineapple, mango and papaya
for the domestic market. Attending a Fancy Food Show with the Trade Hub
in New York, U.S.’s largest speciality food and beverage marketplace
revolutionized her business strategy. “I realized that almost everybody
was asking for organic products,” said Appea-Kubi, whose company,
Ebenut, is based in Accra, Ghana. “So I thought, ‘If I have the
opportunity, I will go in for the certification so I will also be able
to supply the U.S. market.”

That opportunity
arose two years later when GTZ, the German development corporation,
took her to Berlin for an agricultural products trade show, and
Appea-Kubi joined forces with a buyer looking to export organic
pineapple to Switzerland. The transition was not easy: Organic
certification requires a lot from a company. “You have to be able to
trace the products to the farm, to know where it’s coming from,” said
Appea-Kubi.

“Also, we didn’t
have many organic certified farmers who were ready to supply us with
the quantity of food that we needed. We had to persuade them before we
could go in for the certification because it’s very expensive over
here.”

Nor is
certification the only hurdle to surmount. Post certification,
producers still have to budget for annual certification and strive to
secure continuity of existing markets. Deputy administrator of the USDA
National Organic Program, Miles McEvoy, opined that access to markets
poses the greatest challenge to growers who want to go organic and
emphasized the importance of the market component.

“Marketing
information is your major obstacle,” he said. “Is there a processor I
can sell to? Is there a distributor that wants my product? How do I
find out about these markets? How much product do they need? Growers
will go and get certified, but they won’t have a market. They grow
organic, and then ask “why can’t I sell it?’ Organic is very specific.
You have to line up your buyers and your distribution networks.”

That said, the
rewards for producers in West Africa are increasingly important. The
demand for organic products in international markets has increased
significantly, and, experts say will continue to rise. According to a
2010 industry survey by the Organic Trade Association, U.S. organic
food sales grew from $1 billion in 1990 to $24.8 billion in 2009. The
European organic food market has also increased, by about 12% since
2007.

In attempting to
meet this demand, businesses in West Africa stand to gain considerably,
said Megan Tweed, specialty foods adviser at USAID’s West Africa Trade
Hub.

“Organic agriculture presents a significant opportunity for West African exporters,” she said.

“Several of our
client companies have successfully increased their market shares by
moving into the organic segment. And for certain manufacturers, organic
certification have been the critical success factor.”

Interest from West Africa

West African
companies are taking notice. A workshop held last month in Accra drew
over 100 attendees from the cashew, shea, and speciality foods sectors
who sought to learn how they could take advantage of opportunities in
organic agriculture.

The workshop,
organized by the Washington State University International Research and
Development Program, with support from the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), provided in-depth training on how growers can
obtain U.S. organic certification and grower group certification, and
how to navigate the organic marketplace. It also facilitated discussion
on such topics as developing a regional support network for organic
agriculture.

Workshop attendees
hailed mostly from West African countries, namely, Ghana, Benin,
Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Togo. Some, such
as Brenda Aluda, training officer at Dudutech, a large-scale commercial
crop protection company based in Naivasha, Kenya, travelled from
further afield. Dudutech develops pesticides composed of living,
pest-eating organisms or ‘beneficials’ acceptable for use by organic
farmers, who are prohibited from using synthetic pesticides.

James Cole, owner
of Eloc Farms, which has sites in Nsawam, Kwahu and Kintampo, Ghana
grows pineapple, papaya, mango, and cocoa. Having obtained EU organic
certification in 2002, Cole attested to the complexity and costliness
of the certification process. In addition to certification fees,
organic standards compliance costs include soil testing, record keeping
and fees for export authorization. Mr Cole emphasized that
certification is to be viewed as part of a long term business strategy
and is not to be taken lightly.

Cole asserts that
organic markets cannot behave in the same way as conventional markets.
“We are saying that organic depends on the principle of care: not only
from the farmer’s end but also on the consumer’s end.”

“Organic products are a niche market that is now expanding,” said
Appea-Kubi. “You get premium prices for organic products, if you do it
well. It is satisfying to me to produce something for human consumption
that doesn’t have chemicals at all.”