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Project title:
5: Impact of Organic Farming Systems in East Africa on Soil Fertility
Management and Livelihoods
LIFE
1st
Institution:
2nd
CORK
Institution:
Assoc.
Sokoine or Makerere
Institution:
Key words (4-6): organic agriculture, soil fertility management, global food chains, sustainable
livelihoods
Increased demand for tropical organic products from the global North has led to a rapid expansion
in the organic agriculture sector in East Africa. East African countries have recently formalized an
East African organic standard, thereby establishing a regional organic certification service. This
offers significant opportunities to improve the conditions of trade for East African farmers.
Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have the most prominent organic sectors in Africa with a large
number of smallholder farmers involved in organic agriculture. The organic sector in East Africa is
market-driven and there is a strong market demand for tropical organic products from the Global
North
In general, farmer adoption of organic agriculture is considered to hold a large potential for the
development of more sustainable production systems, whilst an added benefit is improvement of
farmers’ livelihoods. However, the on-farm effects of adoption of organic agriculture (upon e.g.
yields and soil fertility) and mechanisms which lead to farmers’ adoption of organic agriculture are
poorly understood. A major challenge is to enable smallholder farmers to link to high-value export
markets. Facilitating farmers’ linkage to high-value markets entails both improving production
related aspects as well as aspects further up the chain, such as processing of products, marketing
and farmer organization.
The overall objective of this project is to investigate how farming in smallholder systems in East
Africa is affected by organic certification, and secondly which farmer groups are able to enter the
commercialized organic food chains. Specifically the project will investigate to which degree
farmers’ change their farming system in order to comply with certification or quality standards as
well as market demands for specific products. Moreover, the project will study the barriers for
entering the organic food chains, and livelihood impacts of organic certification.
Key research questions (2-4):
1. How is farming practices, specifically nutrient management affected by organic certification
2. What are the livelihood impacts of organic certification, and how does linkages to commercial
food chains impact re-investment in farming
3. What type of impediments (for farmers and organic companies) limit the future development of
organic agriculture in East Africa and how can these be improved?
Required competences:
 Nutrient and soil fertility management
 Livelihood analysis
 Organic production systems