African Organic Agriculture Manual Booklet Series

No. 1 | Definition and Benefits

WHAT IS ORGANIC AGRICULTURE ?

 A suitable way to improve farming
As a farmer in Africa you may be facing a number of challenges like loss of
arable land, decreasing soil fertility, frequent drought and rising cost of
seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and animal drugs. This commonly leads to re-
current difficulties to produce enough food to sustain the family and com-
munity. There is therefore need to establish low-cost farming
methods that are environmentally friendly and allow you to address the
pressing problems of food security.

Organic agriculture has a significant role to play in addressing these goals.

It has proved considerable potential to improve household food security,
access to high value markets and increased incomes. As result, the aware-
ness of the potential of organic agriculture to improve farming and farm-
ers’ livelihoods is rapidly increasing, also in Africa.

Organic agriculture is concerned with the way you as a farmer manage

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soils, water, plants and animals in order to produce, process and distri-bute
food and other goods. Organic farmers utilize natural resources in a way
AFRICAN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE TRAINING MANUAL BOOKLET

that they benefit while protecting these resources for future gene-rations.

In a time of changing climate with uncertain rains securing harvests be-

comes a major challenge. Under these circumstances organic farmers have
managed to improve their lives by relying on nature’s potential using farm-
own resources, low-cost methods and establishing a diverse and stable
farm-ecosystem.

This booklet will give you a first insight into the basic approaches and prac-
tices of organic agriculture. It is an invitation to learn more about this ap-
proach in more specific booklets of this series and to evaluate it to make
your way of farming more sustainable.

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What is organic agriculture?

Organic agriculture is an improved and affordable way of producing good

quality farm products in harmony with nature. It combines the best of
traditional farming with modern sustainable agricultural methods.

We as organic farmers …
> Look at the farm as a big orga-
nism, which we have to look af-
ter very well in order to benefit
from it.
> Protect the soil, water and for-
est resources, as we and the
future generations depend on
them.
> Use natural and renewable re-
sources available on the farm
such as manure, crop residues,
tree leaves and dry grass to fer-
tilize the soil.
> Use natural and non-poisonous
materials to control pests and
diseases.
> Select and use strong plant va-
rieties and animal breeds that
do well under local conditions.
> Increase the organic matter of
infertile soils and thus eventu-
ally bring dead land back into
production.

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 How organic farmers feed the soil
A fertile soil is the foundation of
good crop and livestock produc-
tion. It absorbs and holds enough
water and nutrients, and provides
the nutrients to the plants in a bal-
anced way, when they need them.
In an organic farmer’s perspec-
tive a fertile soil is a living soil con-
taining insects, worms and smaller
organisms. These organisms de-
compose green plant material and
animal manure to make the nutri-
ents available to the crops.
Organic farmers protect the soil
from being carried away by water
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and wind. They also minimise its dis-

turbance to prevent disruption of
AFRICAN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE TRAINING MANUAL BOOKLET

Cover the soil with plant material

the activities of the soil organisms. in permanent crops
To improve soil fertility, organic
farmers regularly feed the soil with
animal manure and plant material.
They mix them together and proc-
ess them into a highly valuable
fertilizer called compost. They also
work crop residues and especially
grown green plant material into the
soil.

Soil is like an organism: To be

healthy, it depends on an appro-
priate nutrition! What food do
you give to your soil?

4
Grow fast growing nitrogen fixing
plants and dig them into the soil
to feed the soil organisms

Plant trees to pull up nutrients

from deeper soil and protect the
Cover the soil with plant material crops from sun and wind
to protect it from sun, wind and
rain

Heap plant and animal materials

together so they can decompose
into a valuable fertilizer

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 How organic farmers keep crops healthy
A healthy plant will grow to its full
size within its natural time and will
produce well-formed food mate-
rials. So organic farmers look at
providing good growing conditions
to the plants. They perform all field
activities in time, plant early in
the season, remove weeds before
they damage the crop, and remove
excess branches in tree crops before
flowering to ensure good fruit size. Use healthy seeds, seedlings and
Organic farmers use strong cuttings only
plant varieties, which have been
tested under local conditions to be
fast growing, resistant to pests and
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diseases and good yielding.

Organic farmers carefully check
AFRICAN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE TRAINING MANUAL BOOKLET

pests and diseases before using

them.
They grow crops in a planned
sequence to starve and kill pests
and diseases that live in the soil. Remove competing plants and
The better the farmers prevent infected plant material
pests and diseases from develop-
ping, the less efforts they have to
control them.

Pests and diseases also have

their natural enemies. Have you
ever thought of creating favour-
able conditions to enhance devel-
opment of these useful creatures?

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 Feed the soil with sufficient
manure and keep it moist

Protect natural grass boundaries

and bushes around the fields
to encourage development of
natural enemies of pests

Trap, repel or kill pests and

diseases with natural substances

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 How they keep animals healthy
Organic farmers keep farm animals
to get eggs, milk and meat. Farm an-
imals also provide valuable manure
for improving soil fertility.
Organic farmers handle their
animals with care and respect. They Provide animal friendly housing
feed and house them well, and keep
them free of parasites and diseases.
This allows the animals to behave
naturally, grow and reproduce well.
Organic farmers choose strong
breeds that grow and produce well
with locally available feeds. They
also keep their animals in natural
shape and do not shorten beaks, nor
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remove horns or shorten the tails.

Organic farmers provide safe
AFRICAN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE TRAINING MANUAL BOOKLET

housing to protect the farm ani-

mals from bad weather and wild
animals. Housing makes it easy to
check and treat the animals for in-
fections and to collect eggs, milk
and manure.
To treat their animals organic
farmers first use natural substanc-
es. In case of dangerous diseases
they also use synthetic medicines
Provide good quality feed and
to protect the lives of the animals.
drinking water all the time

Animals love nature! Do you let

your farm animals experience
nature as much as possible?

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 Observe and check animals
regularly

Allow animals to graze, and to

play and mate naturally

Use natural and non poisonous

materials to treat animals

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 How do organic farmers benefit?
By growing different crops and
keeping different animals organic
farmers are sure to harvest, even
if a crop fails. By using own seeds Use materials available on the
and making their own fertilizers farms and thus spend less money
and pesticides, and avoiding costly on farming
inputs, they save on money in pro-
duction. Products from a certified
organic farm can in most cases be
sold at higher prices. Lower costs,
safer harvests and higher prices im-
prove their incomes.
Additionally health of farmer
families benefits from organic Produce a diversity of foods to
farming through healthy foods free ensure a balanced diet and a
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from pesticides and a diverse diet. secure food supply

Organic farmers continuously
AFRICAN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE TRAINING MANUAL BOOKLET

try out new, appropriate methods

on their farms and gain experienc-
es by discussing with other farm-
ers. This way they learn to solve
most of the problems related to
soil, crops and animal production
on their own. Together they often
pick up special projects to improve
their lives, for example selling farm
products, having trainings and buy-
ing equipment together.

What else would you expect from Improve the harvests and income
a farming method, which claims to
be sustainable, healthy and fair?

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 Sell to better markets and get
higher prices

Share knowledge and equipment,

and organize marketing together

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This booklet
Training is anproject.
Manual outcome of the
It was African Organic
conceived Agriculture
as a handout for
African farmers.
Training Manual project and was conceived as a handout for
farmers.

Imprint Agriculture (FiBL) and their partners

to publish reliable data and informa-
Publisher: tion. The authors, the editors and the
FiBL, Research Institute of Organic publishers cannot assume responsibil-
Agriculture, Switzerland, www.fibl.org ity for the validity of the materials.
Neither the authors, nor the publish-
Collaboration: ers, nor anyone else associated with
> IFOAM, International Federation of this publication, shall be liable for
Organic Agriculture Movements, any loss, damage or liability directly
Germany, www.ifoam.org or indirectly caused or alleged to be
> NOGAMU, National Organic caused by the training manual and its
Agricultural Movement of Uganda, tools.
www.nogamu.org.ug
> FENAB, Senegal The African Organic Agriculture
> OPPAZ, Organic Producers and Training Manual is based on research
Processors Association of Zambia, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates
www.oppaz.org.zm Foundation and the Syngenta Foun-
dation for Sustainable Agriculture.
Draft version 1.0, June 2011. The manual’s findings, conclusions
and recommendations are those of
African Organic Agriculture Training the authors, and do not necessarily
Manual: ISBN 978-3-03736-197-9 reflect positions or policies of either
Foundation.
All materials resulting from the Africa
Organic Agriculture Training Manual
project are available free of charge in Contact
the internet under For further information on organic
www.organic-africa.net agriculture in your country please contact:

This booklet can be reproduced with-

out permission.
Please cite this publication as follows:
FiBL (2011): African Organic Agricul-
ture Training Manual. Version 1.0, June
2011. Edited by Gilles Weidmann and
Lukas Kilcher. Research Institute of
Organic Agriculture FiBL, Frick

All the information contained in this

manual has been compiled by the au-
thors to the best of their knowledge.
Reasonable efforts have been made
by the Research Institute of Organic