Information for AFRISCO's clients

Organic agriculture
Organic agriculture, as promoted by Afrisco, is based on the IFOAM Principles of Organic Agriculture:

The principles are achieved by:

The advantages of organic certification

Organic certification shows buyers that you know what you are doing, and have followed accepted standards.  It allows you to sell organic products to major retailers – who require the assurance of an accredited certifier – and to export.  Certification also protects you from unfair competition from those who claim to be organic, but who aren’t following the accepted rules.

AFRISCO Certified Organic

AFRISCO Certified Organic is a South African Organic Certifying Agency.   It is the mission of Afrisco to work with the organic associations in South Africa and with organic producers in other Southern African countries to:

In addition, and without providing training or consultancy services or marketing services (which might make us biased when we were inspecting or certifying):

The Afrisco certification scheme operated by Afrisco is a scheme for licensing organic food production, processing and packaging, and associated non-food products.  The scheme was launched in 2001 to provide an ethical and well-regulated basis for establishing the integrity of organic production systems and food products in South Africa and neighbouring countries.  It involves the independent inspection and certification of organic food from its production through the processing and distribution chain to the consumer.

The certification scheme has adopted strict standards that have now been accredited by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).  Afrisco also intends to apply for accreditation with the Department of Agriculture in South Africa as soon as such a scheme becomes available.

By the operation of the Afrisco organic certification scheme, Afrisco intends to promote the production and consumption of organic food in Southern Africa and for export.  Standards have been set to a level that is internationally accepted as organic in order to promote consumer confidence both in South Africa and the export markets. 

Afrisco is particularly concerned to promote organic production amongst smallholders in South Africa and the rest of the southern African region and thus to improve both the ecological conditions, and rural employment and incomes.  Afrisco intends to promote organic production among small-scale emerging farmers by providing training providers with non-remunerated guidance on the principles of organic production, to:

Afrisco’s ownership:

Diana Callear, the Managing Director, is the current shareholder of Afrisco.  She is an agricultural economist who has been involved in agricultural and rural development issues in Southern Africa for the last 25 years, and has worked for the governments of Botswana , Namibia and South Africa .