Enhancing organic cotton fibre production in Zambia: unifying food security, markets and conservation

COMACO provides a solution for how humans and the environment can coexist through a revolutionary approach that uses rural-based markets to support conservation. Visit COMACO to subscribe to its newsletter and learn more about the challenges of the Zambian human/land conflict and how COMACO addresses these challenges by improving the lives of rural poor while conserving wildlife and other natural resources.

The past decade has shown an increase in the interest of organically produced food products in the EU. The reason for the growing interest is that consumers have become more interested in healthy food, and authorities and wholesalers/supermarkets have increasingly been promoting organically produced food. The EU sets standards for organic production of agricultural products in Regulation (EEC) 2092/91 and its amendments and defines export procedures for exporters from third countries. Only products that comply with these standards are allowed to be marketed as organic.

EPOPA, created by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) in 1997, aims to give African smallholder farmers a better livelihood through developing local and national business. The increase in agricultural production benefits rural communities, with thousands of smallholder farmers getting a premium price for their crop. They get a more transparent price setting from the exporter who buys more directly and they are paid cash in hand. The programme manages projects in Uganda and Tanzania. The EPOPA programme is managed by Grolink in consortium with Agro Eco, a consultancy from the Netherlands.
To subscribe to or download the EPOPA newsletter, visit http://www.grolink.se/epopa/Publications/Newsletter/index.htm
For market studies and reports on organic production and markets, visit http://www.grolink.se/epopa/Publications/index.htmexports

The long-term objective of the FAO Organic Agriculture Programme is to enhance food security, rural development, sustainable livelihoods and environmental integrity by building capacities of member countries in organic production, processing, certification and marketing. Download the Report of the International Conference on Organic Agriculture and Food Security, held in Rome from 3-5 May 2007 here.

Find out more about the development of certification and standards for organic agriculture, organic (or ecological) production and marketing of organic products. At Grolink, you can also subscribe to the Organic Standard, an international monthly journal that enables individuals and organisations to keep up-to-date on developments concerning worldwide standards and certification issues in the organic sector.

Naturland is active the world over in promoting organic agriculture. Its members are farmers who produce a wide range of valuable products: coffee from Mexico and Peru, olive oil from Greece, tea from the slopes of India's mountains, pineapple and other tropical fruit from Uganda, spices from Sri Lanka. Organic agriculture safeguards the existence of smallholders and helps with the sustainable management of what are often fragile ecosystems.
Access Naturland's Manual for Internal Control Systems (ICS), which explains the certification system for smallholder organisations and describes each step to be taken on the way to implement an internal control system.

Founded in 1999, by some local NGOs and farmers interested in producing organic agricultural products for the growing international market, OPPAZ is a membership organisation which provides production, marketing and technical advice and fosters linkages between growers and traders to provide an accessible export route for both smallholder and commercial farmers.

Subscribe to OPPAZ's quarterly newsletter and download its publications on organics.

Cotton is one of the crops most heavily laden with chemicals. In fact, it takes roughly one-third of a pound of chemicals (pesticides and fertilisers) to grow enough cotton for just one T-shirt. Get 10 reasons to go organic and learn more about organic businesses and organisations.