NICHE MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Most of the new markets described in this section of the Guide - organic produce, healthy eating, convenience foods, GM free, fairly traded and ethical - started on a small scale as niche markets and grew until they became significant contributors both to producer incomes and to consumer purchases. Exporters need to be continuously on the look out for more such opportunities.

Smallholders have particular advantages in many respects in filling niche markets. For example:

• organic production is labour-intensive so makes full use of family labour, a resource which most smallholder households have in abundance;
• organic production also uses few purchased inputs, a further advantage for cash-poor smallholders;
• fair-trade buyers are generally more sympathetic to smallholder-grown foods rather than commercially produced products, since the direct benefits to the growers are easier to demonstrate;
• by the same token in many countries tourist hotels and restaurants are looking to buy fresh foods (and other products) from local farmers rather than importing them from Europe, with both the cost advantages and the social/public relations benefits in mind.

The opportunity to develop a niche market for horticultural products through the tourist trade in Zanzibar is described in the following case study.