Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Creation and Development of Market Institutions
80
least a million farmers on two million hectares by 2020, and to raise productivity and
incomes by 20%.128
4. Box 1 describes the structure and effects of Uganda’s national organic movement.
Box 1 - Market linkages development for smallholders in Uganda
In Uganda, since the 1980s, production and exports of non-traditional agricultural and food
commodities – especially organic fruits and vegetables – have increased, based initially on the
export-led growth strategy outlined in the National Trade Policy. Non-traditional exports, including
fish and fish products, floriculture, horticulture, spices, hides and skins, and honey, have become
more important than traditional exports such as coffee, cotton, tobacco and tea, and now account
for more than 73% of national export earnings, up from 14% in 1990. Even more important,
organic horticulture, growing at more than 20% annually, has proven an effective way to move
smallholders out of poverty by integrating them into profitable cross-border value chains.
The central institution responsible for this development is the National Organic Agricultural
Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU), which was established in 2001 as both an NGO (with the Uganda
NGO Board) and as limited company with the Registrar of Companies. NOGAMU’s membership
includes some 270 organizations of producers, processors, exporters, together with NGOs and other
institutions involved in the organic sector, and these in turn represent more than 200,000
smallholders. NOGAMU’s mandate is to “coordinate and promote organic agricultural development
in Uganda, through interventions in four strategic areas: (i) promotion of local and export market of
organic products from Uganda; (ii) promotion of training, research, extension and education in
organic agriculture systems; (iii) development and promotion of application of organic standards
and certification systems in Uganda; and (iv) creating awareness and attraction of support for the
organic sector through advocacy.” 129
At the local level, NOGAMU mobilizes small holder farmers into groups, focuses them towards
specific enterprises, and helps them raise product quality and production volumes to meet market
demand. NOGAMU then identifies suitable markets for these groups in form of local organic outlets,
supermarkets, local exporters, schools, other traders and markets, and links them to these markets.
At the international level, NOGAMU helps link local organic exporters to importers of organic
products in different markets, mainly by profiling export companies and matching them
appropriate import companies. To facilitate this process, NOGAMU has established an Organic
Trade Point (OTP) to serve as a one stop centre for organic market information. The OTP has
developed market profiles regarding specific export destinations for use by existing and potential
exporters. The OTP data base serves as a focal point for market linkages and information on organic
export companies, volumes and supply capacity, seasonality of products, and information on
packaging.
NOGAMU was instrumental in establishing the Uganda Organic Certification and setting up a local
company, Ugocert, to provide certification services, as well as in the establishment of harmonized
East Africa Organic Products Standards (EAOPS), and a common certification standard, the East
African Organic Mark, which has been registered in each of the Member Countries of the East
African Community and adopted by organic producers and market organizations in those countries.
128 PISAgro (2017), Home, available a Accessed May 2017].
129 FAO/INRA (2016), Innovative markets for sustainable agriculture - How innovations in market institutions encourage
sustainable agriculture in developing countries, p. 2, Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique.