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High-quality mountain agricultural
products
Local and regional marketing of agricultural
products is expanding in many mountain areas,
encouraged by a growth in potential markets
in the surrounding lowlands. This opens up
development opportunities for the largely isolated
and marginalized mountain economies.
In the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania, the
communities grow crops throughout the year,
including temperate vegetables, which fetch a
high price in urban lowland centres. Likewise,
communities in the Usambara Mountains have
started growing tomatoes, which they sell to urban
communities in the lowlands (UNEP, [AEO-2] 2006).
There are many such cases of mountain communities
taking advantage of growing and selling products
that are unique to the mountain environment and
therefore sell at a higher price. This includes Arabica
coffee, a product of mountain areas such as the
Ethiopian Highlands, the Kenya Highlands, Mount
Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and Rwenzori. In some
areas, such as on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro,
farmers have gone a step further and are now growing
certified organic products to tap into the growing
demand from developed countries where a growing
number of consumers are becoming increasingly
conscious of the negative effects of consuming food
products containing pesticides.
Therefore, high-quality mountain products are
becoming an increasingly important means of
improving the livelihoods of mountain communities
around the world. In Africa, the FAO Mountains
Products Programme, developed in the context of
the Mountain Partnership, is working to improve
the production and marketing of quality local
products by providing mountain communities with
the necessary organizational skills, market linkages,
technology and expertise. Efforts to promote the
initiative are ongoing in mountain countries of the
region. Examples include the Dean’s Beans Organic
Coffee Company, which works in collaboration with
Ethiopian coffee to ensure high-quality production
that is sold at fair trade prices. Similar efforts are
being made in Uganda to introduce high-value
crops in highland and mountain regions – areas
facing high population pressures, land shortages
and environmental degradation.
Water harvesting and irrigation for
land restoration
Water harvesting is a very important means of
accessing water in water deficient areas, while at the
same time averting hazards common to mountains
and their surrounding areas such as excessive run-
off, soil erosion and flooding. Many mountain
communities practice rainwater harvesting, ranging
from rooftop collection for domestic use to collecting
run-off from impervious surfaces such as rocks and
roads for gardens and crop irrigation. This has many
benefits including increased land productivity, the
restoration of unproductive land and the control of
environmental hazards. These practices are common
all over East Africa.
Laikipia District in Kenya, provides an example of
water harvesting for irrigation and land restoration.The
district lies on the leeward side of Mount Kenya and has
an annual average rainfall of approximately 700 mm;
the area is categorized as semi-arid. The communities
Tea plantation, Rwanda