Twiga Foods, a mobile-based startup, launched B2B mobile platform to be used by small and medium scale businesses to purchase fruit and vegetable stock from local and regional farmers in Kenya saving the farmers the challenges they face with brokers.
Before the platform was established, farmers in the country faced a major challenge in dealing with brokers who bought produce from them at very cheap rates, cheating them of the real value of their produce, and sell at high rates to vendors.
This made agricultural produce quite expensive in Kenya as lots of produce got wasted between the farmer and the market and farmers incurred losses.
“Before the platform, farmers had a lot of problems with brokers. Brokers from Mombasa and Nairobi are many, they take farmers’ bananas and pay them whatever they wanted. But with Twiga, they (farmers) can now get better prices for their produce,” said Grant Brooke, Twiga Foods co-founder and CEO.
Initially, the platform started with about 80 vendors signed up, many of them making orders of at least Sh1,000 a day. But today, Twiga boasts a clientele of over 5000 vendors and over 8000 farmers in Kenya alone.
According to World Food Bank, Twiga Foods is currently Kenya’s largest seller of bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, and other staple commodities.
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How it works
After a farmer signs up to join, Twiga team visits and assesses farm then adds farmer onto the system then Twiga issues a purchase order to book produce and indicate the date of harvest.
Twiga harvests and weighs farmers produce and pays farmer within 24 hours.
All produce is gathered at Twiga collection centres and packhouses for processing, grading and dispatch.
The process works exactly the same for vendors as well, save for the fact that they are on the receiving end.
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Guaranteed market for farmers
Twiga empowers farmers by providing them with a guaranteed market by sourcing produce directly from farmers and delivering to the doorstep of vendors.
With a guaranteed market for their produce, farmers can focus on increasing their yield, growing their business and consequently increasing income.
Part of the startup’s empowerment scheme for farmers also include partnering with agricultural and financial organizations to provide farmers with value-added services like better access to loans and agricultural inputs.
The startup also conducts Farmer Engagement Programmes monthly to educate farmers and exchange feedback on their services. This builds trust and enhances the relationship between the platform and farmers.
Twiga Foods can be contacted on +254 (0) 709 258000 or info@twiga.ke
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