In 2011 the TEP started a pilot project in Zambia whose objective is to increase the competitiveness of Zambians exporting products in the sustainability segments of the food and natural products market.
The project has involved training Zambian agri-export companies in partnership with the Zambia Development Agency and Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre. In total 17 companies and 9 organizations were trained on at least one of the following topics: Organic Production, Processing, Certification, and Marketing.
A larger workshop was held in January 2012 focusing on Zambia’s domestic market for organic products. Approximately 50 participants attended, learning insights on the Zambian organic market, and participating in group discussions on common challenges including logistics, finance, sustainable production, packaging and communications.
In parallel to these trainings, TEP has also been providing targeted support to three SMEs in organic market development. These three companies are linked to over 1,000 small-scale producers, 40% of whom are women. They sell a wide variety of products (from mangoes, mongongo oil to honey and beeswax) and are already exporting in the regional market. ITC is currently providing support to these companies for the implementation of their Internal Control Systems, the first step to get the organic certification.
In February 2012 ITC sponsored two of these companies to attend BioFach, the world’s largest organic trade fair, held in Nuremberg, Germany.
