Worldwide, the demand for certified organic products is increasing. The aim of our OFA project is to support smallholder farmers and wild plant collectors in Zimbabwe by offering practice-oriented qualification programmes leading to external certification of organic products for the export market. Those trainings are accompanied by the introduction of a traceability system to follow the movement of a food product through specified stages of production, processing, and distribution as a requirement for food safety. Our partners now conduct preparatory trainings as a precondition for certification, which will allow smallholder farmers and wild plant collectors to be integrated in the export market.
How do we intend to achieve our goals?
- We want to create demand- and practice-oriented certification trainings that enable participants from marginalized population groups to achieve sustainable income generation while at the same time using natural resources sustainably.
- We create offers towards organic certification for food products to promote the integration of smallholder farmers and wild plant collectors into the export market
- We focus on expanding collaboration between agricultural business enterprises and certification institutions to help improve the growth of the organic market in Zimbabwe and the region.
