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| January 2009 |
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- Organic Africa Pavilion 2009
- Do Not Miss the Deadline for the Call for Papers of the 1st International IFOAM Conference on Organic Animal and Plant Breeding!
- Requesting the Pesticides Initiative Programme’s Support
- Cash-strapped Malawian Farmers Discover the Benefits of Organics
- Uganda to Promote Organic Cotton
- Helvetas Workshop in Benin
- Fourth Senegalese National and Annual Fair of Organic and Natural Products
- Upcoming Organic Agriculture related events
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| | 1. Organic Africa Pavilion 2009 |
| | At this year’s BioFach in Nuremberg, Germany, there will be again an African Pavilion where visitors will enjoy African designs, colors, sounds and flavors. A piazza in the middle will make the pavilion an oasis that attracts visitors and offers African coffee, tea, wine, snacks and new innovative beverages. In the country or sub-regional stands, exporters, national Organic Agriculture movements and export promotion agencies will showcase the specialties from the Sub-Saharan countries. The Pavilion will also serve as a hub of information on activities and services of different importers, trade promotion agencies, consultancies, NGOs and certifiers, and will provide an opportunity for exhibitors to exchange information and contacts with relevant businesses from all over the world.
There will be about 35 stands with 120 exhibitors from 14 African countries in the whole Pavilion. Countries represented are: Burkina Faso; Ethiopia; Kenya; Madagascar; Namibia; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Africa; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia and Zimbabwe.
IFOAM will also have a booth at the Africa Pavilion in addition to IFOAM main booth (Hall 1: 330). Please, come and visit us!
For more information on the Organic Africa Pavilion, please visit: www.organicafrica2009.com.
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| | 2. Do Not Miss the Deadline for the Call for Papers of the 1st International IFOAM Conference on Organic Animal and Plant Breeding!
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| | Deadline for Abstract Submission: March 1st 2009
For more information, visit: www.ifoam.org/events/ifoam_conferences
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| | 3. Requesting the Pesticides Initiative Programme’s Support
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| | Although the use of pesticides is minimal in Organic Agriculture, the Pesticides Initiative Program (PIP) could be of interest to the organic sector. It also covers issues such as product phytosanitary and traceability requirements not related to pesticides residues.
The PIP was set up by the European Union at the request of the Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Group of States in order to forestall any negative effects on the ACP export sector resulting from ongoing regulatory changes in the EU and ensure the sector's long-term sustainability.
The PIP is not a classic financial donor in the strict sense of the term. Rather, it is in contact with potential beneficiaries and works with them to find the type of support best suited to the issues at hand.
The program is intended to:
- Horticultural producers and exporters supplying European Union market
- Smallholders support organizations
- Support Structures and Service Providers to the ACP Horticultural Export Sector
For more information, please visit: http://pip.coleacp.eu/en/pip/10380-requesting-pip-support
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| | 4. Cash-strapped Malawian Farmers Discover the Benefits of Organics
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| | Poverty and penury often push people in Africa into innovation. So it was with Jailos Kanyanga. The story began when government agents arrived at Mr Kanyanga's compound in this central region of Malawi, and demanded that he immediately repay money he owed under a fertilizer credit scheme – with "no further excuses".
The sum involved was 3,750 kwacha (about €21) – an amount that it was unimaginable the poor subsistence farmer would have to hand. If he couldn't pay, the agents said, they would seize his 11 pigs – livestock Mr Kanyanga saw as ensuring the survival of his family of eight. He was lucky. The local pastor lent him the money. But it was then that Mr Kanyanga resolved he could not allow himself to fall into such peril again.
"I decided the only way out was to resort to the methods of growing crops using the composts that we were taught in the old days, when we didn't know fertilizers," he says. He gave up expensive chemicals and went back to the organic ways of his father and grandfather.
To read full story, please visit: www.independent.co.uk/news/appeals
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| | 5. Uganda to Promote Organic Cotton |
| | The Ugandan government has finally agreed to zone organic cotton growing areas in different parts of the country in order to promote the growing of organic cotton which is on high demand in the US and other developed countries.
The Managing Director of the Cotton Development Authority, Jolly Sabune says the government will soon gazette areas suitable for organic cotton growing depending on the suitability of the soils and resistance to pests and diseases. DDT will not be sprayed in the gazetted areas. Sabune says the move is aimed at enabling the country and farmers in particular to tap in more from the lucrative market for organic cotton.
Last December, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni directed a halt to the current mass introduction of organic cotton growing in the north and eastern regions of Uganda to make sure that the farmer involved in organic cotton gets the premium, is well trained and prepared for organic farming. The ban was targeted at the US cotton merchant Dunavant, the firm that is spearheading organic cotton growing in the north.
For more information, visit: www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news
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| | 6. Helvetas Workshop in Benin |
| | From April 19-25, 2009, the Helvetas Organic & Fairtrade Competence Centre is organizing in collaboration with ICCO, the Netherlands, a workshop for exchange and learning on “Building organic & fairtrade value chains” in Benin.
The workshop is intended to practitioners actively involved in organic farming and/or fairtrade projects in a development context.
For more information, please contact: Frank Eyhorn.
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| | 7. Fourth Senegalese National and Annual Fair of Organic and Natural Products
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| | From April 8-12, 2009, the National Federation for Organic Agriculture of Senegal is organizing in collaboration with the FAO the Fourth Senegalese National and Annual Fair of Organic and Natural Products in Thiès.
The Fair has been initiated by long standing IFOAM member AGRECOL Afrique and provides a great opportunity to showcase organic and natural products from Senegal.
In addition to the exhibition there will be a consultation on the “The Basic Norms of Organic Agriculture in Senegal based on IFOAM Basic Standards”.
For more information, please contact: Ibrahima Seck.
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| | 8. Upcoming Organic Agriculture related events
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| | Organic Africa Pavilion at BioFach
February 19-22 2008
Nuremberg, Germany
Fourth Senegalese national and annual fair of organic and natural products
April 8-12
Thiès, Senegal
For more information, please contact: Ibrahima Seck.
Workshop for exchange and learning on “Building organic & fair-trade value chains”
April 19-25 2009
Cotonou, Benin
For more information, please contact: Frank Eyhorn.
Africa Organic Conference
May 19-22
Kampala, Uganda
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Email: h.bouagnimbeck@ifoam.org
Head Office Contact Information
Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 5
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: +49-228-92650-10
Fax: +49-228-92650-99
Email: headoffice@ifoam.org
http://www.ifoam.org
© 2009 IFOAM - All rights reserved. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) e.V.
Trial Court Bonn, Association Register no. 8726
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