The ever-growing popularity of organic foods has created a demand that smallholder farmers in developing nations can help satisfy. A recently concluded organic farming project by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in West Africa, funded with support from the German government, helped 5,000 farmers learn organic farming processes and gain organic certification for their crops. Growing organic crops opened international trade opportunities for these farmers in addition to teaching them agricultural and business skills, according to the FAO.

The FAO program helped farmer groups and small exporters in Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon by guiding them through the entire organic agricultural process from the initial planting to marketing and export. Crops like pineapples, mangos, shea nuts and cocoa were produced and shipped overseas, providing substantially higher returns for the farmers. According to FAO, 30 organic pineapple growers in Ghana managed to increase their sales from 26 metric tons to 116 metric tons thanks to the project.

Inputs associated with conventional methods of agriculture like inorganic fertilizer and pesticides, and genetically-modified seeds are often too pricey for the average African smallholder farmer to afford. "Because organic agriculture makes use of locally available resources and reduces the use of external inputs it may be well suited to small farmers in developing countries," Pascal Liu, FAO Trade Economist told MediaGlobal in an e-mail.

"Organic farming uses more labour and organic matter than conventional agriculture. Usually chemical inputs are imported and expensive; smallholders tend to lack the financial resources to purchase these inputs, while they have labour and can produce organic inputs such as compost." For developing countries it may be cheaper in the long run to take advantage of local organic inputs rather than imported inorganic ones.

Growing organic is also advantageous in that it is maintains soil health, which will benefit farmers in the long term and could increase the amount of produce grown. Much of the land held by smallholder farmers in Africa has been cultivated too much and becomes agriculturally unproductive as a result.

"In difficult environment[s]... and after some years of organic management, the [crop] yield may be even higher and is growing over the years in contrast to conventional agriculture which often faces exhaustion of soils and need to increase inputs year by year." Markus Arbenz, Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) told MediaGlobal in an e-mail.

However, the switch to organic farming is not without its challenges. The greatest difficulty for these West African farmers, and a major point of concern for the FAO during the project was the "conversion period," the shift from conventional to organic farming that requires upgrades to meet international organic standards and to obtain international certification. Organic food is often more costly to produce, but pays the producer back in higher sales prices overseas, but it takes time for profits to overcome initial expenditures.

Despite these hardships, organic farming in Africa is viable because the demand for organic produce in developed nations is growing so rapidly. According to the FAO, the organic and fair trade markets in developed countries are expected to grow 5 to 10 percent per year for the next three years.

Taking advantage of this demand, the West African farmers in the FAO project have met with success. "Beneficiary farmers have increased their yield and cultivated area," Liu said. "This has resulted in the creation of jobs for farm workers. In addition, farmer groups have hired administrative and support staff thanks to the income generated by the export of certified products."

Proceeds from these projects were reinvested in food, education, medicine, and other essential supplies for these countries, helping to spread the prosperity of the farmers. Now that the project is officially over, there have been proposals to expand it, but FAO lacks the resources to do so and no donors have come forward to provide funds.