Kenya Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN)

KOAN is a national membership organization for organic agriculture in Kenya. KOAN was formed to coordinate,
facilitate and provide leadership and proffessional services to all members and other stakeholders in the Organic Agriculture industry in Kenya.

Vision

A vibrant organic agriculture industry that contributes to a healthy environment, livelihood security and responsive to a growing consumer market.

Mission

To coordinate, facilitate and provide leadership and proffessional services to all members and other stakeholders in the organic industry in Kenya.

Goal

To develop key competencies, skills and strategies in the areas of organic marketing, certification and standards, training, extention and information exchange, networking, policy and advocacy and production.

What we do

Facilitate provision of technical advisory services in the areas of production, training, certification and inspection services acceptable at both the national and international levels coordinate, harmonize and facilitate unified training programmes in organic agriculture in Kenya.

Who is involved

KOAN is organized into 5 sub committees namely: Production, Training, Certification, Standards setting, Marketing, Promoting, Lobbying, Advocacy and Networking. Each subcommittee has its own action plans that complement the overall goal of KOAN. Membership to any of the subcommittees is open and voluntary to all.

Organic Marketing Assistance Programme (OMAP)

The Organic Marketing Assistance Programme (OMAP) is a function of the Kenya Organic Agriculture Network, the national coordinating body of organic producers and other stakeholders in Kenya. OMAP is the marketing arm of KOAN with the specific responsibility of providing technical service to a proffessional level to support the development of the organic sector.

OMAP provides technical expertise to KOAN members in the areas of organic market product development. It offers tailored advise and specialised training to farmers from small-scale producers to the commercial export operaters. OMAP assists producers in preparing for organic certification, the development of Internal Control Systems (ICS) required for group certification and fair-trade and sustainable wild harvest certification.

The services also provide guidance in organizational and business managemnet. Marketing support is one of the central areas of OMAP's work, providing regularly updated information, website and database facilities, actively establishing and developing linkages with organic and fair-trade buyers, promotion of the organic sector and representation at trade-fairs are amongst the activities and services provided to KOAN Members.

OMAP works with interested producers and producer groups through maturely agreed programmes which assist in the establishing or improving the feasibility and/or viability of their organic farming enterprise. For more information logon to
http://www.koan.co.ke