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: 16 April 2019; Hits: 8141

Naivasha flower farm tops for adopting renewable energy as away to save environment

geothermal energy

Oserian Development company goal of creating a carbon-free environment by 2020 has received a major boost after it was recognized as the renewable energy champion last week.

This comes at a time industries and greenhouse gas emissions have been blamed on a number of environmental pollutions and consequently climate change that is felt worldwide.

However, investment in geothermal energy to power operations, use of electric tugs (cars) to transport flowers and use of sheep to mow grass are among initiatives that have seen Naivasha-based flower farm Oserian Development Company crowned winner in the Renewable Energy category of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) Energy Management Awards (EMA) 2019.

Kenya's oldest flower farm was feted among some other 20 firms recognized for exemplary measures in efficient use and generation of energy.

Since the flower farm embraced heating of greenhouses with geothermal energy in 2001, it has remained the only in Africa and among the largest in the world, to use this power in flower production. Oserian runs the world's largest geothermal powered greenhouse and flower pack house.

By using geothermal heating, it has managed to tame diseases such as petal botrytis and downy mildew, two of the greatest threats to flower production while minimizing fungicide spray in the green houses and reducing cost of energy, leading to substantial contribution to a greener planet.

Thanks to geothermal, Oserian is able to grow exclusive specialty roses like Queen of Africa and Vuvuzela which require unique heating not possible under different heating systems, according to Hamish Ker, former long serving technical director with the farm.

A year ago Oserian introduced electric cars, known as tugs that are geothermal powered to transport flowers from the greenhouses to the packhouse, an innovation that has seen reduction in fossil fuel from Ksh 400,000 to 30,000 monthly, a massive savings in terms of costs and energy consumption. Within one year of introducing the electric vehicles, the company has been able to save Ksh. 1.4 million on diesel.

The success of this venture has seen the company mull converting their fleet to a hundred per cent electric in the future as the company moves closer to being a carbon free business in 2020.

oserian team

In partnership with biological control companies Madumbi and Andermatt of Switzerland - Oserian produces 10 million beneficial insects every week to eat predatory bugs reducing use of chemicals and labour, contributing to a safer chemical-free greener environment.

Oserian has also introduced hybrid sheep that are used to keep the grass short around the greenhouses, replacing the diesel mowers. The hundreds of sheep move paddle to paddle clearing grass, dropping waste that turns into manure, removing cover that habour insects breeding grounds essentially contributing to less predators therefore less chemicals to control them.

"This win is testament to the commitment we have for matters green energy especially in our daily operations and we are happy someone has recognized the effort and investment", said Mary Kinyua the Director of Human Resources and Administration at Oserian.

In addition, the company has embraced a more environmentally-friendly transportation process. It has adopted cargolite, the newest flower packaging technology, in which corrugated boards are strengthened with plastic skeleton. This means a lighter box, which saves on airspace and airfreight costs, resulting in reduced impact on the environment. By using the new packaging system, Oserian can potentially save up to $8,000 for every one million stems transported to Europe.

This month, the farm is set to launch a solar plant to inject an additional 1megawatt enabling it to supply sufficient power for all its operations and sell to the national grid.

The Energy Management Awards launched in 2004 by the GEF-KAM Energy Efficiency Project seeks to recognize enterprises that have achieved outstanding energy savings and cost reductions through improved utilization of energy.

Photo1: Oserian geothermal heating system. Photo courtesy.

Photo2: Oserian Development Company Limited staff during Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) Energy Management Awards (EMA) 2019 ceremony at Safari Park hotel Nairobi. Photo courtesy.

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: 16 April 2019; Hits: 6822

Brookside increases milk prices by five shillings to cushion 160,000 farmers against drought effects

Brookside, a dairy processing company in Kenya has increased the price of one liter of milk it buys from 160,000 contracted farmers from Sh31 to Sh36 to cushion farmers against drought effects due to the delay of the long season rains.

The price is set to benefit more than 300 dairy farmers groups supplying milk to the processor which manufactures pasteurized milk, cream, butter, yoghurt and ghee.

“At the moment the dry weather has led to increase in prices of our consumer products that’s why we intend to pass these benefits to our farmers,” said John Gethi, the director of milk procurement at the company.

In 2018, the company recorded a 30 per cent increase in milk supplies from farmers after increasing farm gate prices by 42 per cent.

The company has a daily processing capacity of 1.5m liters a day.

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milk udder big

According to Kenya Dairy Board, the industry regulator, milk intake in the formal market dropped by five per cent in the last three months due to the effects of dry weather.

In this, milk delivered to processors has been declining since January from 56m kilos to 54m kilos in January to 53m kilos in March.

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: 15 April 2019; Hits: 6124

Kenya’s mobile-based food delivery firm aims to connect more African farmers with buyers

twiga bananas and avocadoes

Twiga Foods Limited, a mobile-based food delivery firm in Kenya is aiming to reach and connect more fresh producers in Tanzania, Nigeria and Ethiopia with vendors after a successfully working with Kenyan farmers.

The mobile-based platform has been dealing directly with farmers in Kenya and operates 25 collection centres and a fleet of about 50 delivery vehicles. As of January 2018, the startup had sourced more than 245 tonnes of bananas each week from over 3,000 farmers.

In addition, Twiga sources the fruits and vegetables from 17,000 farmers and delivers directly to 180,000 informal retailers daily in Nairobi and its environs, creating a predictable market for growers and reducing transport costs for the vendors.

This is through aggregating farm produce and distributes it to vendors at street corners or market stalls in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, through a mobile phone-based supply platform.

“A banana in a Nairobi supermarket costs more than a banana in London, while the average income of a consumer in the U.K. is 30 times compared to Kenya,” Peter Njonjo, Twiga’s co-founder.

“This is true for many African cities and our vision is to leverage technology and organize a more efficient value chain that lowers food prices.’’

In November last year, the firm announced a $10 million boost from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, TLcom, and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) to expand its operations.

Many Kenyans in the Nairobi metropolitan area, which has about 6.5 million people, spend an average of 45 per cent of their disposable income on food.

“Many cities on the continent face similar challenges - urbanization outpacing infrastructure development, inefficient agriculture and a fragmented retail industry,” said Njonjo.

If it works here, the key thing is we would want to find a way to scale and get into those cities and offer the same products and services,’’

Nairobi is growing into a tech hub creating solutions for problems common in the developing world. In the past six years, Kenya received 58 percent of reported investment deals in East Africa, according to the Africa Private Equity Venture Capital Association.

Twiga is first eyeing other East African cities, such as Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It plans to then move on to Africa’s most populous city, Lagos, where Njonjo worked for three years as Coca-Cola Co.’s regional head for West and Central Africa before becoming Twiga’s chief executive officer.

“For us the icing would be Lagos,’’ he said. “We will remain very centric to big urban cities, because that’s where the problem is biggest.”

To beat Nairobi’s notorious traffic, the firm dispatches its trucks early in the morning so they are at its neighborhood depots where it distributes to kiosks.

Twiga will face a “formidable challenge” integrating logistics systems in the other African countries they target, and uptake may be slow in markets that don’t embrace change quickly, said Gerald Muriuki, a technology analyst at Nairobi-based investment bank Genghis Capital.

In Nigeria, they’ll have to contend with perennial power shortages, according to Eric Musau, head of research at Standard Investment Bank in Nairobi. “It boils down to cost and how soon they can turn profitable,” he said.

Other than distribution, Twiga is also working with selected farmers to modernize food production and expects dispatches to increase to 200-300 metric tons per day by the end of the year from about 120 tons currently, he said.

The company has raised $35 million from venture capital and convertible notes since inception in 2013. This year, Twiga will conduct a second round of financing to fund expansion in Nairobi and another round in 2020 for growth outside of Kenya, Njonjo said.

Existing investors include Wamda Capital, which had invested in the Middle Eastern ride-hailing company Careem Networks FZ that Uber Technologies Inc. bought for $3.1 billion in a cash and stock deal last month.

“We have a good captive audience of investors we can walk this journey with,” Njonjo said.

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