Marketing and organic certification of bean production

Organic certification commonly relates to marketing of organically grown products. Organic certification can, however, be costly, especially for generic products that have low market value like dry beans. Dry beans are primarily grown for the local market, while green beans have good domestic and export market potential. So it is thus rewarding only if the green beans can be marketed with an organic price premium over the regular price, which pays off the certification costs. However being an intensive crop, in order to produce enough volume, the farmers need to work together in a group. This is important in order to ensure the quality and quantity requirements.

General requirements for organic certification of bean production:

• Synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers as well as chemically treated or genetically modified seeds are not allowed.
• During postharvest handling and storage no chemicals are allowed.