Date Of Article: 4/3/2003
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Mepc holds organic farming symposium
By: Ayam Maeresa
The Malawi Export Promotion Council (Mepc) is on Thursday holding a one-day symposium in Lilongwe to promote the use of organic materials and inputs in farming to cash in on growing export markets in the West. Mepc projects and research officer Maurice Gondwe said in an interview on Tuesday the symposium will, apart from discussing issues related to organic farming, provide a chance to discuss the possibilities of forming a national association to act as a support pillar for the farmers. Gondwe said the symposium will also discuss government policy towards organic farming, market prospects and the role of the financial institutions in the trade. He said it is necessary to promote organic farming because of the growing numbers of health and environmental concerns, mainly in western Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. Gondwe said organic farming is important to the country, especially that Malawi is struggling to find alternative cash crops to tobacco, which is the economy’s mainstay contributing about 75 percent of total foreign exchange earnings. He said the promotion of organic farming will be in line with global requirements to preserve the environment. He said despite the current small share of organic products in the food and beverages trade, market prospects look bright. Most herbs and spices such as chillies, pigeon peas and corianders come from organic farming. “Malawi need not be left behind and if the buyers out there could know that the country produces organic products at an early stage it could have a competitive advantage,” said Gondwe. “Exporters will get a premium on their organically produced foodstuffs due to their increasing demand in foreign markets.” But he said the biggest challenge will be to boost production and improve on quality to meet the importers’ standards. According to Gondwe, consumers in the West are strict on regulations of producing organic agro-products and harvesting procedures.
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