Developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa are predominantly agricultural based. Where the majority of the
population resides in rural areas and engaged in agriculture as a source of livelihood. However, recently there has been
a growing debate globally on rapid urban population growth in developing countries. The aim of this paper is to present
opportunities for organic producers emanating from transformations of agri-food systems in urban area with specific
focus on tourist industry. The paper is based on research activities of a project ‘Productivity and Growth in Organic
Value Chains (ProGrOV)’. ProGrOV is collaboration between universities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Denmark
addressing the need for sustainable development of smallholder farming systems in East Africa with focus on value
chains for local high-value markets as well as export chains. The project addresses innovations for improving production
as well as market access. The transformations of agri-food systems addressed in this paper resulting from urbanization
are evidenced by proliferation of supermarkets, specialized organic-food shops, food supply to alternative markets such
as the tourist industry and traditional farmer markets. Efforts for promoting organic products in East Africa have
traditionally focused on export markets whereas this paper based on evidence from ProGrOV studies argue that there is
opportunity for developing domestic organic product value chains to meet the demand from tourism and transformed
agri-food systems.