Photos for NGOs & UN Agencies: Organic Coffe Farming

At the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains in southwest Uganda, the mountains seem timeless and village life seems unchanging, but an agricultural transformation means that nothing is as it was before.

In Uganda, 85 percent of people are farmers, but only a small percent of Uganda’s GDP comes from agriculture. There are a lot of reasons for this: lack of access to markets, poor export strategies, and crude farming techniques that keep output low.

Most of the farmers in this area are learning more about organic farming every day. Within a year or so, all the crops they grow will be organically certified and fetch a higher price of the Western market. The high price that fair trade coffee beans fetch sends kids to school, pays for new houses, and changes people's lives.

Commissioned by the International Trade Center