For four days, from July 26 to 29, 2022, the Nuremberg Mess in Germany gave to see, to smell, to touch and to taste organic food to its thousands of participants and visitors coming from the five continents, including those from Central Africa.
Five Cameroonian non-governmental organizations took part in the 2022 edition of the Nuremberg Organic Agriculture Fair in late July 2022 at the invitation of the German Cooperation (GIZ).
These organizations operate in the production of knowledge, information, training and support for producers in organic agriculture and agroecology in Cameroon.
These five members of the Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in Central Africa (KHCA) called in french, Pôle de Connaissances de l’Agriculture Biologique en Afrique Centrale (PCAC) are: Centre International pour la Promotion de la Création (CIPCRE), Groupement d’Appui pour le Développement Durable (GADD), Centre Polyvalent de Formation de Mbouo (CPF), Service d’Appui aux Initiatives Locales de Développement (SAILD), INADES Formation (Institut Africain pour le Développement Economique et Social – Formation).
At BIOFACH-VIVANESS 2022, the representatives of CIPCRE, GADD, CPF, SAILD and INADES Formation took the measure of the evolutions realized in the world on the field of organic agriculture and cosmetics. Information on products and services is available throughout the organic chain.
Many challenges await the Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in Central Africa, the youngest Hub established in July 2022 by Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa (KCOA) project, three years after the creation of the four other African Hubs which are : Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in North Africa (KHNA), Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in West Africa (KHWA), Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in Eastern Africa (KHEA), Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in Southern Africa (KHSA).
Agriculture and cosmetics
The 2022 fair is the first on-site edition after Covid-19. The 2021 edition having been virtual, due to the lockdown. The next edition is scheduled for February 2023.
As a place of discovery and learning, BIOFACH-VIVANESS presents up-to-date information and all kinds of opportunities in the organic sector. Production techniques, seeds and ecological inputs, transformation processes, conservation and organic packaging, certification and marketing, are some of the areas covered.
International, national and local operators providing services in the organic sector have a prominent place. FIBL, IFOAM, NATURLAND, ECOCERT, BIOVISION, AFRONET, DEMETER, BIOLAND, ECOLAND, ECOFAIR, etc. invest the place, each with arguments to promote its interventions in the organic agricultural sector.
In recent years, the fair has integrated the non-food organic field, including cosmetics. This section called VIVANESS develops perfumes, milks, toilet soaps and other natural beauty products. Hence the name BIOFACH-VIVANESS.
Discovery and learning
Among the visitors of this 2022 edition, we count about forty African members of the partner organizations of the KCOA project. These organizations are from the five Knowledge Hubs of organic agriculture in Africa.
In search of organic success stories, the African visitors had their fill. Organic success stories exist not only in Europe and Asia, but also in Africa.
The example of Madagascar with its stand coordinated by its minister in charge of agriculture is not the least. The big island has a national regulation and technically supports its producers of organic vanilla and other local spices.
In less than twenty years, Madagascan organic vanilla has made its mark. It was highly appreciated at the BIOFACH-VIVANESS 2022 fair.
Marie Pauline Voufo
