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: 27 August 2019; Hits: 5371

How Kenya- Uganda border small-scale farmers are cutting the cost of transporting their produce across the border

cross border trades

A man pulling a cart full of goods towards Busia border point. Photo courtesy.

Small-scale farmers at Busia, Kenya- Uganda border have teamed up with smalls scale traders to share the cost of transporting their produce to various towns in the interior parts of the countries using hired trucks.

The move has seen individual farmers pay depending on the quantity of the produce to be transported instead catering for the full hiring cost.

Before, regardless of the volume of the produce to be transported, the trucks would charge about Sh30,000 to move them to the destined destinations. However, coming together has seen the producers who deal in small quantities of farm produce pay Sh250 per 90kg load without necessarily having to fill a truck.

“These farmers deal in farm produce not exceeding USD2,000 (Sh200,000) at ago and given their smaller volume of goods, they found it difficult to hire the trucks for transport,” said Charles Achieng, Chairman of Busia Cross Border Traders Associations who is also in charge of BusiaTrade Information Desk.

For instance, there are 40 trucks which transport the farmers’ produce to Kisumu, Eldoret, Nakuru, Nairobi in Kenya or into Uganda on a daily basis.

The trucks carry about 120 bags of the produce weighing 90 kilos each at ago. A bag of such a capacity costs around Sh250 to transport from Busia to most targeted destinations in Kenya or Uganda. In this, a trader will be required to pay up to offloading points along the transport route.

“Initially, this was so costly for the traders who do not have the potential to trade in bigger volumes of products that can fill the trucks. They would be required to pay the full cost even when the trucks are half full,” said Achieng.

Major produce of trade among the cross border farmers and traders along the Northern Transport Corridor are mostly agricultural produce such as maize, beans, groundnuts, bananas, fruits, carrots, French beans, mangoes, pineapple, watermelon, Irish potato, French beans, Fish and animal feeds among others.

Though the traders also deal in other products such as timber, plastics, tiles and clothes, unprocessed rice, shoes, groceries, cosmetics, bed covers among others.

Currently, the farmers and traders have formed a group of over 10,000 registered members in various constituent affiliate member groups and work jointly with 50,000 other small scale traders who enjoy their cross- border trade services which include document facilitations.

This is made easier by consolidating the goods, and with the help of Trade Information Desk at the One Stop Border Post at no fee, simplified customs documentation process is conducted including providing the simplified certificate of origin in collaboration with the revenue authorities and standard bodies in a bid to facilitate entry and other import or export procedures.

“Most of the members of this group are not well educated or conversant with Customs and immigration procedures. They therefore need assistance in such processes which ensure that no counterfeit, illicit or unauthorised goods are moved across the border,” said Achieng.

The 2009 established group which comprises of women and men incorporates 1,000 small scale farmers and traders every day who are also handled by the customs department to ensure that the consignments are moved across the border legally.

However, some of the challenges these farmers and traders are facing so far are lack of funding and facilitations for cross border structures and value chain, with the need for a national platform to engage with regional cross border trade platforms.

COMESA Member states under The Great Lakes Region are facilitating Cross Border Trade structures including Trade Information Desks. In Kenya, the Trade Information Desk officers and CBTA Committee are volunteers, making it unsustainable as traders cannot further be burdened to facilitate them.

"It is important that the Governments and development partners look into options of facilitating the Cross border trade Information Desk and Committee to enable them continue guiding and providing relevant trade information and services to the traders.The establishment of Cross Border Trade Fund (CBTF) will be one stop solution to funding challenge." Said Achieng.

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: 26 August 2019; Hits: 5780

Leading hotel chain in Kenya buying green grams from all-comers

A leading hotel chain in Kenya is looking for supply of green grams from all-comers across Kenya.

“We are looking for five tonnes of green grams and anyone willing to supply, can contact us on +254-726760002 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,” said Mercy Kariiyu, the head of operations at the hotel.

“It is the first time we are looking for this can kind of produce for our clients in Kenya.”

The price and payment mode of the produce shall be negotiated between the seller and the buyer.

More than 6,000 farmers benefit from free green grams seeds in Kitui

green grams

Superior Hotels currently comprises of six properties located in Nairobi and Naivasha providing a wide range of conferencing and accommodation options.

The move is more likely to benefit from Makueni and Kitui counties who were looking for market last year.

In 2018 for instance, more than 6,000 farmers in Kitui were looking for buyers to purchase their green grams at a time when the price of one kilogram of green grams (ndengu) had dropped to between Sh30 to Sh45 from Sh65 due to excess production driven by a 2017 project where more the farmers received free green gram seeds at a cost of Sh100m from the county government.

In 2017, the farmers received approximately 88.5 metric tonnes from the county government in collaboration with the Kenya Red Cross leading to a harvest of more than 33,000 tonnes of the produce hence flooding the market.

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: 20 August 2019; Hits: 5052

How agribusiness startups are pointing farmers to international markets

Kenyan farmers especially smallholders are now accessing international markets thanks to the growing number of agribusiness companies and startups which are pointing the farmers who have been growing traditional crops and selling them to local markets to high value crops for export.

According to a last year report by Africa's start-up portal, Disrupt Africa, Kenya is among the top African countries with the high number of agri-tech startup markets at 60 per cent, a position it shares with Nigeria and Ghana.

For instance, Selina Wamucii, a Kenyan social enterprise has in four years of operation assisted over 7,000 small scale food producers access markets in what has seen it named among companies to inspire Africa by the London Stock Exchange Group.

According to the enterprise’s co-founder John Oroko who was brought up in a smallholder farming family, Kenya is faced with firsthand realities that rural farmers grapple with accessing markets and earning decent household incomes.

“Smallholders are among the hardest working people on the planet, yet remain a majority of the world’s poorest. It matters to me because I believe we have the best opportunity to transform Africa’s agricultural value chains while passing the benefits of an efficient chain to producer communities across the continent,” said John.

Since co-founding the company in June 2015 he has managed to enlist over 7,000 farmers across the country who grow high value food among them fruits, vegetables, fish, seafood, spices and other agro commodities which find their way across markets in Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Strawberry jam production helps company find market for grade 2 fruits

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selina wamucii staff

Selina Wamucii farmers sorting out banana fruits for export.

Selina Wamucii has also been working with locally trained agents referred to as Produce Agents who guide farmers on good agricultural practices covering growing, harvesting, grading, collection and the eventual transportation of the produce to designated zonal warehouses.

To become part of the network, farmers sign up to join Selina through their mobile phones via USSD where their information details are captured that include names, geographical locations, what they are producing, the various stages of progress throughout the season, harvest time lines and projections and actual volumes at harvest.

The system also streamlines the sourcing process, making it faster and less expensive with a digitized value chain.

For Premier Seeds Limited, a vegetable seed company based in Nakuru County and working closely with smallholders in the Rift Valley region who have traditionally relied on the overcrowded cereal farming is now giving the farmers a lifeline in growing basil among other herbs whose multiple health and nutritional benefits has made the farmers access export markets.

According to Simon Andys the founder and CEO of Premier Seed, international buyers say East Africa meets a paltry 15 per cent of their demand for the herb even as markets continue to balloon following discovery of new uses of the herb.

“The markets have expressed insatiable appetite for the herb. With our first farmers, we are producing 1.6 tonnes of basil against a demand six tonnes per month from the importer we work with hence the pressure to produce more,” said Andys.

Today the company has 800 contracted framers with 100-200 of them growing basil which has become an instant hit among Nakuru farmers making an initial foray into horticulture for its ease of cultivation and growth traits.

The herb takes an average of 42 days to mature and is harvested every ten days for up to eight months. A typical greenhouse measuring 8x30m produces on average 125 kilos of basil every week with a kilo going for Sh390 in local markets and up to Sh500 a kilo in international markets.

“Premier Seed help farmers in accessing certified seeds, soil analysis, trainings on Global GAP, agronomical support and correct application of fertiliser and chemical to ensure that the farmers’ produce meet international standards,” said Andys.

Twiga Foods, a company that provides fresh produce supply chain on its side has linked 8,370 farmers in Kenya to markets in a move aimed at bridging gaps in food and market security through an organized platform for an efficient, fair, transparent and formal marketplace that includes farming advice.

To work with the firm, farmers are required to visit the company’s website and register which is followed by a visit and assessment of the farmer’s farm then adds him/her onto the system. The company then issues a purchase order to book the produce and indicates the date of harvest.

“Once the produce is ready, we harvests and weighs the farmer’s produce and issues the seller with a receipt. Farmers receive payment within 24 hours,” said said Kikonde Mwatela, Chief Operating Officer of the company.

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