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: 05 April 2019; Hits: 12234

Kenya to build Africa’s first agritech innovation incubator

DAT Logo The Disruptive Agricultural Technology (DAT) Challenge and Conference aims to provide a forum to discuss the opportunities offered by disruptive digital technologies to increase productivity, and access to services and markets in the agricultural sector.

The Ministries of Agriculture and that of Information in partnership with World Bank Group, Korea-World Bank Partnership Facility, Kuza Technologies, Dalberg and the United Nations is convening more than 200 key stakeholders to share experiences, discuss challenges and create new ideas for scaling disruptive agritech innovations in Kenya in three years.

The Nairobi knowledge and innovation challenge conference which is happening today and will end tomorrow is about scaling up disruptive digital technologies in the agricultural sector in Kenya.

Disrupting Kenya’s agricultural value chains and food systems is necessary to keep up with the rising demand for food, feed and fibre emanating from a rapidly growing population, increased effects of climate change and rising urbanization. The country’s food production will therefore need to grow by 75 per cent by 2030, according to the Institute of Security Studies.

Agritech presents exciting opportunities for Kenya to leapfrog the agricultural transformation needed to meet these needs. According to McKinsey research, Kenya accounts for nearly 25 per cent percent of all agritech start-ups in Africa and has a vibrant agriculture sector that is ripe to capitalize on digital technologies and innovations to support agricultural transformation and the government’s Big 4 Agenda.

Scaling up the impact of digital and disruptive technologies on Kenyan agriculture requires a new approach; one that involves innovative program design and systematic investment in the knowledge, innovation and incubation ecosystem in the country. Examples of agritech innovations include: precision agriculture, internet-of-things, drones, crop and soil sensing, weed sensing, disease sensing and fintech solutions.

Digital platforms link the smallest of agricultural businesses to buyers, allow better prices, increasing their incomes by about 50 per cent. In designing and scaling market platforms in agriculture, companies need to make six strategic decisions around: model, crops, buyers, transport and logistics, farmer engagement, financial services and payments.

Over the next three years, the World Bank Group working with national, regional and international partners plans to create Africa’s first agritech incubator located in Kenya. The incubator will scale up agritech innovations by connecting over one million Kenyan farmers to a digital platform – for market access, production information, and financial services.

“Digital innovation is creating unprecedented opportunities for Africa to grow its economy. Through the One Million Farmer Initiative, the World Bank Group and its partners will harness the power of innovation in Kenya to vastly improve food security and farmer incomes,” says Parmesh Shah, World Bank Global Lead for Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Jobs.

During the conference, industry experts will engage the agritech innovators and policymakers on feasible and scalable digital solutions. They will explore solutions of market price information and linkages, alternative sources of energy, mechanization enabled by the internet-of-things, tailor-made services for access to credit, savings, insurance and payments, remote sensing, drones, machine learning, block chain, and agriculture intelligence.

Preceding the conference is an agritech innovators’ entrepreneurship bootcamp that will bring to light more than 20 disruptive start-ups working on various aspects of agricultural value chains that have the potential to scale.

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: 02 April 2019; Hits: 10893

Nairobi modern farmers’ market set to connect food producers directly with consumers

Nairobi farmers market

An artist’s impressions of the proposed Nairobi Farmers Market

Kenyan farmers will soon have their own market where they sell produce directly to consumers, cutting off the traditional value chain that is replete with middlemen.

The Nairobi Farmers Market, which is under construction in the upmarket Runda Estate, off Kiambu Road, will contain 45 stalls that are exclusively operated by farmers.

This borrows from international practice where most cities have farmers markets that supply produce direct from the farms to the consumers. While some provide temporary selling space for different farmers on a day-to-day basis, others lease out permanent shops that are operated by individual farmers who take the space on a long-term basis.

“We are essentially addressing the contradiction where farm-gate prices for cabbages, for example, are less than Sh10 a piece but the consumer pays Sh60. In-between numerous traders, brokers and county levy collectors eat the sweat from the farmer and the savings from the consumer. We are creating a facility that will be a big help for both the farmer and the consumer,” says Mr Munene Mashine, the Project Manager.

He says the other concern the market will address will be traceability of produce and guarantee of good agricultural practices. All the farmers/shop owners will have to submit to regular inspections and certification, similar to what is required of export produce.

Questions have been asked about some of the fresh produce sold in Kenya, with suspicions that some of it is grown with sewage and other polluted water.

The proposed market, which is expected to open in July, will contain sections for fresh produce, Beef, fish and poultry products, dairy produce and a grains section. The Mwea Rice Centre within the market, for example, promises to provide “Mwea rice at Mwea prices” – a potentially revolutionary approach that will ensure great conveniences for Nairobi shoppers keen on the popular Pishori rice.

The market developers say they will encourage stall owners to contract and supervise small-scale growers to ensure sufficient supplies within the set quality guidelines while also spreading the benefits of the market to more farmers. By aggregating produce from the many farmers in the market, they hope to create a secondary outlet for supplying institutional customers such as hotels, restaurants, schools and hospitals. This will ensure and an expansive market potential that can provide an outlet for thousands of farmers.

“We will encourage shop owners to sign up outgrowers across the country, and even to work with County Governments where necessary. This way we can create an efficient road to market for the exceptional pineapple growers of Homa Bay, the sweet potato farmers in Kakamega and the honey producers in Baringo and elsewhere. We are creating a platform that offers guarantees at both the supply and demand side of the equation and hopefully we can provide some stability for everyone,” says Mr Mashine.

Nairobi farmers market

Globally, farmers’ markets usually include an eating out section where freshly-prepared dishes are served. The markets, such as the Borough Market in London, La Boqueria in Barcelona and the Shongweni Farmers Market in South Africa, are top tourist attractions as they provide a good perspective of what the country has to offer.

The Nairobi market will also have a restaurant and since this is Kenya, a nyama choma outlet. Some farmers will be selling produce that has gone through some basic primary processing.

The developers say they want the market to be “fun for the shoppers because even though price advantage is important, it is not the only thing that matters to the modern shopper.”

The market is being developed by a local investor, United Agromarts Limited.

In order to also be in tune with modern shopping trends, the market plans to launch an aggressive home deliveries campaign driven through the Nairobi Farmers Market App.

“It will be a blend between the Uber and the Jumia technologies – you do your shopping online, and we are able to find where you are using the Google Maps facility. We will launch this as soon as the market opens and people see they can trust us, they don’t have to touch and feel the tomato before dropping it into the shopping basket. I think when people have worked so hard to earn their money, they shouldn’t always have to run all over the place to spend it. We will do the running for them,” says Mr Mashine.

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: 02 April 2019; Hits: 7141

Kenya Nut Processors to create new laws to shield macadamia farmers from the nuts’ theft

macadamia nuts

Nut Processors Association of Kenya, an industry platform for nut processors is mooting new laws that will guide in harvesting and marketing of nuts and ensure farmers are known to avoid increased theft of the nuts unscrupulous traders.

According to a 2016 proposed Macadamia Policy by Embu County agricultural ministry, the macadamia nuts industry has had several challenges since the introduction of market liberalization policies and privatization of the economy since 1990s.

Some of these challenges include phyto-sanitary problems, export of smuggled immature low quality raw nuts and fluctuating prices affecting farmers and the industry as a whole.

However, according to Charles Muigai, Nut Processors Association of Kenya CEO, the new regulations in the pipeline will guide in harvesting and marketing of nuts and ensure farmers are known to avoid increased theft of the nuts.

“With no clear regulations and procedures, the quality of our macadamia will be low prompting our nuts to be locked out from international markets,” said Muigai.

The nuts processors are in the process of drafting a law to streamline the industry and are currently conducting public participation to get public opinion of the proposed law before it’s sent to Parliament.

The association on Thursday last week organized a public participation meeting held at the Kenya Agricultural Research and Livestock Organization (KARLO) centre in Kandara to collect farmers’ views.

During the session stakeholders expressed their fears that if necessary strategies are not put in place, Kenya may lose its position in provision of quality macadamia internationally.

Divergent views

Speaking during the meeting, Chairman of Nuts Traders Association, Johnson Kihara, criticized the proposed law, saying its sponsors are trying to push out independent traders who have ventured in the macadamia business.

Kihara castigated Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) of failing to provide proper guidelines saying the authority is being influenced to spearhead only interests of the processors.

“As traders we want a liberal market, free for all macadamia players. Very many farmers market their nuts through us and we should not be ignored,” said Kihara.

Towards the end of last year, AFA imposed a ban on harvesting of Macadamia between November 1 and February 15 as a way to curtail farmers from harvesting immature nuts.

The processors claimed that macadamia mature at different times considering climatic conditions of counties where the crop is grown.

The participants unanimously underscored the imposition of tough measures to ensure only mature nuts get into the market.

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