Globally, a 3rd of the meals produced is misplaced or wasted, and in Kenya, that determine stands at between 20% to 40%. For Kenya, not like the developed world, meals loss, not waste, is the larger drawback, with small-scale farmers, who account for 75% of the entire agricultural output within the nation, going through a myriad of challenges together with insufficient market linkages and a failure to satisfy the beauty specs for his or her produce.
For a transition, a number of startups are rising trying to bridge the market hole for farmers. Farm to Feed, an agri-tech primarily based in Kenya, is likely one of the fast-risers within the house. The startup aggregates farm produce, together with imperfect crop merchandise, like these thought of too small, too large or oddly-shaped, and are sometimes undesirable by distributors, and sells them to companies like eating places and meals processors by its gross sales channels, together with a web based market.
Claire Van Enk, Farm to Feed CEO, co-founded the startup with Anouk Boertien and Zara Benosa in 2021, after pivoting from a non-profit program that supplied meals to those that misplaced their earnings throughout the Covid lockdown. She says, whereas sourcing produce from farmers, it turned obvious to her that whereas meals was plentiful, market entry remained a serious hindrance, resulting in the startup’s launch.
“I noticed firsthand what farmers weren’t promoting even when markets returned, and it’s a enormous devastation not solely on meals safety, however on the financial system too,” Van Enk mentioned, including that meals loss and meals waste have a local weather change facet, with rotting foodstuff producing methane, a greenhouse gasoline that’s worse than carbon dioxide.
She launched the business enterprise to deal with the issue on a bigger scale.
The startup makes use of aggregators to gather produce from small and large-scale farmers in key farming areas of the East African nation. Farm to Feed groups then type, grade and dispatch the merchandise to shoppers from its warehouse in Kenya’s Capital, Nairobi.
It makes use of leased vans however is alleged to be buying vans with sustainable cooling options following a grant funding from IFC Tech-Emerge. The startup has so far raised $1 million in fairness and grant funding from numerous VCs, angel traders and establishments together with the Catalyst Fund, Renew Capital, Bayer Basis, Mercy Corps AgriFin, IFC Tech-Emerge, DEG develoPPP, RAIN Problem, and the GSMA Innovation Fund.
Van Enk mentioned they’ve a number of gross sales channels together with its salespersons, the online app and, quickly, a WhatsApp chatbot for patrons preferring the social commerce route.
Different startups linking farmers to markets embody Ghanaian agtech Farmerline, which can also be giving them entry to high quality enter too, and Full Farmer, which finds world markets for his or her produce. They’re part of the innovators tapping alternatives within the sector, a key trade in sub-Saharan Africa that contributes about 23% of the GDP in a area the place 60% of the inhabitants are smallholder farmers. The sector’s significance to Africa’s development can’t be overstated and has made it a key space of focus for innovators like Farm to Feed.
Information assortment
On prime of the e-commerce platform, Van Enk mentioned they’re constructing an information platform by gathering granular information together with on local weather and drivers of meals loss, for higher farming end result and to create a extra round meals system.
Van Enk mentioned that from their system, which grades meals, “and utilizing the information platform, we are going to strive to determine a number of the causes behind, as an example, the disfiguring of produce. Whether it is due to poor high quality seeds, this may be solved by partnering with entities that present high quality seeds, and if the reason being unhealthy harvesting methods, then we will perform focused coaching on the easiest way to do it.”
The startup is presently operating a value-addition pilot to discover new income streams too.
“Once you do extra worth addition, there’s an actual alternative to do margin enlargement. I do assume that meals loss is such a big impact alternative and in addition an excellent business alternative,” she mentioned. “I actually consider there’s a lot we will do with odd wanting produce and actually create worth for the farmer but in addition for the way forward for Farm to Feed.”
It’s also trying to faucet the carbon market and has performed a feasibility examine within the hope of being pioneers of a brand new methodology by Verra, a nonprofit group that operates requirements in environmental and social markets, that quantifies emission discount from lowering meals loss and waste. This can permit the startup to earn from promoting carbon offset credit.
