UK organic growing charity Garden Organic is working with NGO Mercy Corps to help revitalise organic agriculture abroad, specifically raisin growers in Afghanistan.
Earlier this year Dr Julia Wright, head of international development for Garden Organic, which is based in the Midlands, travelled to Afghanistan to co-ordinate a workshop on conversion to organic agriculture for local producers based in the village of Mandisar, just outside Kandahar, and get them involved in a pilot project for exporting their raisins to the UK.
Dr Wright said: “Small farmers in war-torn regions tend to be overlooked in development work, but the families who stay on their land are just as keen to find innovative ways to improve their livelihoods.
“We have been running international development programmes for more than 20 years now, and have almost 50 years of organic expertise behind us to call upon. This project encourages sustainable agriculture by using organic methods, and will enable farmers to not only build their wealth but invest in their local economy, industry and natural resources for the long term, while looking after the environment.”
After the workshop, a small group travelled into Pakistan and up to the Hunza Valley to visit an organic, fairly traded apricot production and export operation, to see how it can be done.
“We feel that organic imports into the UK are justified if, like raisins, they cannot be produced in this country, if they are shipped rather than airfreighted, and if they command a higher, fair price that goes back to the producer while containing their consumption here,” said Dr Wright. “So it’s important that we work with overseas growers to help ensure the ecological and social sustainability of the production and export process.”
The project is also looking at options for developing local markets within Afghanistan.
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