What does organic farming mean when production does not take place on one large monoculture farm, but across thousands of diversified farms managed by smallholder families?
This question was at the heart of LIMBUA’s contribution to the Ecocert Certification Symposium held in Nairobi in August. LIMBUA was invited to speak and shared experiences from the daily practice of organic farming. One of the key topics was the changing requirements of EU organic certification and their practical implementation when working with thousands of independent organic smallholder farmers.
Peter Wangara and Abigail Birech presented the challenges and opportunities of organic farming
Reliable rules for a credible organic market
We see stricter organic standards as a positive development. They strengthen organic integrity and help ensure that all market participants meet comparable requirements. This builds trust and creates fair conditions for those who consistently implement them.
However, the increased requirements of EU organic certification have also increased the workload, particularly for inspections and documentation. The answer should therefore not be less demanding organic standards.
Instead, the key is to design their practical implementation in a way that reliably safeguards organic integrity while ensuring that the requirements remain practical and economically viable under smallholder farming conditions. Based on our experience, we still see potential for improvement in this area, which our team discussed at the Ecocert Symposium.
Reliable organic standards build trust in organic macadamia produced by smallholder farmers
Starting point: organic farming across more than 9,000 individual farms
To understand the challenges, it is important to first understand how agricultural production at LIMBUA is organised: Our macadamia nuts, avocados and mangoes are not grown on one large monoculture farm, but on the diversified farms of more than 9,000 independent smallholder farmers. Together with LIMBUA, they convert their entire farms to organic farming.
A large farm would be easier to organise in many respects: farming practices could be defined uniformly and organic inspections carried out within a single operation. However, the considerably more complex approach of our model is a deliberate choice. Agricultural production and the value it creates should not be concentrated on one large farm and among only a few people. Instead, the aim is to enable as many people in the region as possible to participate in local value creation.
A LIMBUA smallholder farmer working on her diversified organic farm
Certifying the diversified farm as a whole
A typical smallholder farm in the LIMBUA network is not a monoculture. On usually 1 to 2 acres, different plants and trees grow alongside one another. In addition to macadamia, these may include maize, coffee, tea, vegetables and other food crops for the family.
When converting to organic farming, LIMBUA therefore does not only consider the products we later purchase, but the entire farm. Together with the smallholder farmers, the whole operation is converted to organic farming. This avoids organic and conventional farming taking place side by side on the same small area.
Smallholder agroforestry system in the Mount Kenya region: different plants grow together on the same farm
EU organic requirements: when certification becomes a major organisational undertaking
What ultimately appears on a finished product as an organic label involves an enormous organisational effort in a smallholder network such as LIMBUA’s. Every additional requirement does not affect just one farm; it has to be implemented and documented in a traceable way across several thousand farms. For the farmers themselves, certification also means additional administrative tasks alongside their daily work on the farm.
EU organic requirements involve a significant administrative workload
The sheer volume of information involved illustrates what this means in practice. Records are maintained for every farm, including, among other things, information on farming practices and the inputs used. Harvest volumes are documented and clearly attributed. What may still seem manageable for a single farm multiplies into a substantial administrative workload across more than 9,000 farms.
In addition, there are new requirements for group certification. A “Group of Operators” may comprise a maximum of 2,000 members, which has required established smallholder networks such as LIMBUA’s to reorganise their certification structures.
To manage the additional requirements of the current EU organic regulations, we have significantly expanded our human resources. Field Officers carry out inspections on the farms, while ICS Officers review the results and the related documentation. Agronomists support farmers in implementing organic requirements. They are joined by employees who work with large volumes of data – from purchasing and processing through to export.
EU organic requirements pose particular challenges for smallholder producer groups
This also creates skilled jobs in rural areas. However, the human and financial resources required are considerable. LIMBUA is able to provide these structures and also covers the certification costs for more than 9,000 farms. Not every smallholder producer group has the resources required to do so.
Limited access to suitable organic inputs
Another challenge is the availability of approved crop protection products.
The range of approved organic inputs available in Kenya is still limited, particularly for pest management. At the same time, there is a wealth of local knowledge. Smallholder farmers traditionally prepare plant-based treatments using pepper or other locally available plants and herbs, for example. But in certified organic farming, “natural” does not automatically mean “approved”. These preparations must also comply with the requirements of the respective organic standards.
Field Officers support farmers in implementing organic requirements on their diversified farms
One opportunity therefore lies in developing suitable organic inputs locally. Traditional knowledge can also play a role. Plant-based methods should be documented and suitable approaches scientifically investigated so that they may eventually become recognised solutions for certified organic farming.
What organic farming can achieve
Organic farming has been the foundation of LIMBUA’s business model from the very beginning. We believe that agriculture can only work in the long term if it protects its natural foundations while providing long-term perspectives for the people who depend on it. For us, protecting people and nature therefore go hand in hand.
Our diversified farms show what this means in practice. Avoiding synthetic chemical inputs helps protect soils and water and preserve biodiversity. At the same time, natural cycles are strengthened.
Especially as rainy seasons become less predictable, healthy soil is not an abstract environmental issue for smallholder farmers. It is an important foundation for their ability to continue farming their land in the long term.
The diversity on these farms also makes families less dependent on a single harvest and combines ecological benefits with greater economic stability for their farms.
What smallholder organic farming needs to work in the long term
Our experience shows what organic farming with many small family farms needs in order to work in the long term. International organic standards build trust and provide access to important markets. At the same time, their requirements must remain practical under local conditions.
This includes locally available organic inputs and regulatory frameworks that support organic farming. Equally important are inspection and documentation systems that reliably safeguard organic integrity without placing disproportionate organisational and financial burdens on smaller producer groups.
In addition to generating income for smallholder farmers, organic farming also creates skilled jobs in rural areas
Market access also plays an important role. The more products from diversified farms find reliable organic markets, the more economically stable organic farming becomes.
The Ecocert Certification Symposium in Nairobi gave our team the opportunity to contribute these experiences and learn from other perspectives.
The challenges do not lie in organic farming itself, but in the conditions for its practical implementation. This is precisely why exchange is so important: to ensure that high organic standards are maintained while their practical implementation remains possible for smallholder farming structures in the long term.
The LIMBUA team at the Ecocert Certification Symposium in Nairobi
