Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
majority of whih are smallholder farmers. On the other hand, many smallholder
farmers also remain unaware and/or unable to participate in group certification ini-
tiatives. At the same time, ICS arrangements wed smallholder farmers to the export
company they supply, circumstances that restrict them from selling their produce
elsewhere.
Localizing Organic Inspection
In addition to the introduction of audit arrangements specific to smallholder farmers,
the Ugandan organic sector - in collaboration with international organizations in-
cluding IFOAM and EPOPA - has also succeeded in localizing organic inspection
arrangements. This represents a shift away from the prior reliance on inspectors
from international organic certification organizations, including IMO and KRAV. In
2004, Ugo-Cert was successful in advocating for local inspectors to undertake organ-
ic inspection on behalf of international certifiers. Representatives from Ugo-Cert and
EPOPA discussed a range of benefits for smallholder farmers associated with local
inspection, including a reduction in the cost of inspection; year-round availability
of organic inspectors; and the increased likelihood that inspection processes and in-
spectors will be cognizant of local social, cultural and other contexts. A represent-
ative from Ugo-Cert explained that export companies face pressure to utilize local
inspectors, and funding from EPOPA was increasingly contingent upon it as well:
Many operators here in Uganda are actually puting pressure on their certiiers
to use the local inspectors, so that the costs can be reduced. So, many of the op-
erators are refusing to meet the costs of flying in an inspector from the UK, or
Germany.
The uptake of local inspection - an outcome of lobbying from Ugo-Cert,
NOGAMU and a number of farming organizations - has delivered a number of be-
nefits to export companies, including reducing the cost of organic inspection. At the
same time, the availability of local inspection provides year-round availability of
inspectors for the provision of organic certification, enabling export companies to
enter the organic market more quikly.
Yet while eah of these aspects has provided economic beneits to export com-
panies, the extent to whih smallholders have actually driven suh hanges - thereby
ensuring emerging certification arrangements are sensitive to local cultural needs
and aspirations - is less clear. In contrast, muh evidence exists to intimate that
