Urbanization and transformation of agri-food system: Opportunities for organic producers in developing countries

Developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa are pronominally agricultural based. Where the majority of the population resides in rural areas and engaged in agriculture as a source of livelihood. However, recently there has been a growing debate globally on rapid urban population growth in developing countries. The aim of this paper is to present opportunities for organic producers emanating from transformations of agri-food systems in urban area. The paper is based on research activities of a project ‘Productivity and Growth in Organic Value Chains (ProGrOV)’. ProGrOV is collaboration between universities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Denmark addressing the need for sustainable development of smallholder farming systems in East Africa with focus on value chains for local high-value markets as well as export chains. The project addresses innovations for improving production as well as market access. The transformations of agri-food systems addressed in this paper resulting from urbanization are evidenced by proliferation of supermarkets, specialized organic-food shops, food supply to tourist industry and traditional farmer markets. Efforts for promoting organic products in East Africa have traditionally focused on export markets this paper based on evidence from ProGrOV studies argue that there is opportunity for developing domestic organic product value chains to meet the demand from urban population growth and transformed agri-food systems .