The Organic Vegetable and Fruits Business Group (OVFBG) has met three times i.e.

---

1. 3^rd December 2020 during the organic business summit held virtually via zoom. During this meeting is when the group was formed and an opportunity in fresh organic vegetables and fruits for local market was identified.
2. 14^th January 2021 meeting held virtually via zoom. Objective was to bring stakeholders together after the December holidays, identify other stakeholders to involve and plan for a physical meeting.
3. 22nd January 2021, physical meeting held at Organic Fruitas and Vegetal Stores (Next Gen Mall) Where retailers and farmer present agreed to focus on business opportunities related to Health and Wellness. It was also decided that they would visit Murangá Organic Cooperative Society at the regular Tuesday Organic Farmers Market in Kangari Market and proceed to the Cooperative’s cold house for further discussion.
4. 9th February 2021, physical meeting held in Kangari. Included a farm visit, Organic Farmers Market Visit, Murang’a Organic Cooperative Cold room and packing facility visit and a traditional organic African Lunch at the Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya.

From the meeting several key gaps were identified by farmers and the processors involved, to bridge some of the gaps activities have been undertaken which include;

---

1. Training and capacity building: Farmers from SAMAWAKAMA and Murang’a Organic Cooperative farmers were taken through the processes to make bio pesticide and fertilizers by the Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya compliance (26^th to 29^th January 2021).
2. Organic certification – The same cooperatives were given refreshers on organic certification and compliance (26^th to 29^th January 2021).
3. Come up with common messaging by all the retailers and farmers to target consumers.
4. Investigate weaknesses in the supply chain to make sure smooth flow of produce from farmers to retailers.
5. Agree on proper pricing mechanisms to calculate the Organic Premiums that can be placed on produce.
6. Define organic – agreeing on the messaging
7. How to solve the problem of logistics and transport experienced by traders .
8. Identifying gaps that might lead to poor sales and market reception of organic produce (focus on farmer gaps)
9. Traders and retailers sensitization on the organic certification process
10. Farmers sensitization on global standards
11. Work on standardizing orders and sizes
12. Work out on how to solve the logistical issues creating an effective logistics models.
13. Improving produce and packaging quality as per the standards of the productions – identifying standards

PARTICIPATORY MARKET CHAIN APPROACH

DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS FOR NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

ORGANIC VEGETABLES AND FRUITS BUSINESS GROUP (OVFBG)

 

COMPENDIUM OF MINUTES OF ALL MEETINGS HELD

Table of Contents

Table of Contents. 1

1. MINUTES OF THE ORGANIC VEGETABLES AND FRUITS FOR LOCAL MARKET MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2020 IN ZOOM (ONLINE PLATFORM) 2
2. MINUTES OF THE 1^st ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 15^TH JANUARY 2021 IN ZOOM (ONLINE PLATFORM) 7
3. MINUTES OF THE 2nd ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 22nd JANUARY 2021 AT ORGANIC FRUITAS SHOP NEXT GEN MALL.. 11
4. MINUTES OF THE 3RD ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 9^TH FEBRUARY 2021 IN KANGARI. 20
5. MINUTES OF THE 4^th ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 26^th FEBRUARY 2021 AT WAKAS DEMONSTRATION FARM SABASABA.. 23
6. MINUTES OF THE 5^th ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 12^th MARCH 2021 AT SYLVIA’S BASKET FARM NDEIYA.. 26

1.     MINUTES OF THE ORGANIC VEGETABLES AND FRUITS FOR LOCAL MARKET MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2020 IN ZOOM (ONLINE PLATFORM)

Min 01-OVFBG 0312/2020 Introduction

The break out session had more than 10 attendees including the facilitator, a number joined the meeting later as discussion had progressed. After preliminary introductions, the facilitator led the group through a value chain mapping process, where all the participants got to know exactly where on the value chain they / their organisations existed. ( See Figure 1)

• Producers – 2
• Retailers – 2
• Private service providers – 5
• Public support actors – 2
• Consumer -1

Producers

Retailers

(Processors)

Retailers

Consumers

Value Chain Actors

Private Service Providers

Public Supporting Actors

Group «Organic Vegetables and Fruits Group 1»

Figure 1 Value Chain Mapping

Min 02-OVFBG 0312/2020 Introductory Speech

The Ministry representative (Trade and Marketing Department) mentioned the work by the government towards promoting marketing of farmer produce in premium shops in Nairobi. He also mentioned the presence of an Organic Desk in the Agri-Nutrition Department which has been tasked with promoting organic food due to its nutritive and food safety importance. The Ministry as well supports bulking and aggregation of produce to create opportunities for large scale trade.

The Session facilitator invited members to mention their enterprises and observation in terms of market opportunity.

Min 11-OVFBG 0312/2020 Discussion Points;

• Pest and diseases control continue to be a challenge in organic farming, particularly for exotic produce such as cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes and berries. Without proper pest and diseases control some of this organic produce becomes scarce and expensive to retail.
• Root and tubers (cassava, nduma, sweetpotatoes) are becoming more popular, as well as indigenous vegetables. These are much easier to grow and are not affected much by pests and diseases.
• Consumer awareness on benefits of organic, although much higher than it was historically, is still limited and more needs to be done to promote organic.
• The demand for organic produce is rising, particularly following the CVID 19 Pandemic. Despite this many farmers are still missing out on market opportunities due to small produce quantities and retailers are unwilling to spend high costs in sourcing small amounts of produce. The challenge with organic in this case is mostly logistical – bulking, grading, building capacity of farmers.
• It was suggested that retailers could group together to share in the cost of logistics. This would allow all to benefit and maintain steady supply of produce while reducing the costs involved per retailer.
• As well it was suggested that an annual meeting between all organic farmers in Kenya and retailers could be organized to discuss how to improve the industry.
• A common message(s) could be adopted by all the retailers regarding organic. This could communicate to consumers about the qualities of organic produce which might differ slightly from conventional produce so as to foster acceptance. An example of vegetable crispness and shelf was given as an example.
• The issue of pricing and premiums was broached. A deeper discussion on how to structure such prices could be adopted in future sessions. The Ministry of Agriculture’s Marketing platform could be used as a reference point to advice farmers what the prevailing market prices for conventional produce were and a percentage could be added as premium. This would provide reasonable justification for premiums which would not deviate too much from conventional market prices.
• The retailers mentioned having an annual planting calendar to guide farmers on what to grow. It was noted that organic produce supply inconsistencies were a major impediment to retailer willingness to buy. As well a caution was sounded, due to the unpredictability of Kenya vegetable retail market, adopting a planting calendar might not solve all the supply problems.
• Issues of loyalty was also mentioned. When produce is in low supply farmers tended to sell to the highest bidder while when there was market glut they would in turn seek out the retailers they are familiar with, this leads to mistrust between farmers and retailers. More discussions on such should be pursued to come to consensus.
• Monthly pricing cycles were mentioned as a way to make sure all parties (farmers and retailers/retailers) get fair shake in prices. Further discussions on the same should be pursued.
• The Kenya Organic Agriculture Network was mentioned as essential in creating the platform for knowledge, information an interaction between the different stakeholders. Issues of distribution of farmers, food safety and testing, as well as nutrition information could be catalogued on the platform. The platform should also be a registry for all certified producers in Kenya and provide contact details for them.
• Farmers raised the issues of certification, a lot of information on organic certification is lacking and this needs to be well presented before a farmer engages in organic farming.
• It was also noted that more government representatives need to be involved in such a market promotion endeavour, the HCD, county governments need to be aware that such activities are ongoing and be part of the process.

Min 12-OVFBG 0312/2020 Summary

From the discussions the following were agreed upon as the most important business opportunities;

• Traditional vegetables, courghettes, cucumbers and tomatoes important and in high demand consistent supply would be favourable to all parties.
• Logistical opportunities – Joint buying by traders, aggregation of produce in order to reduce costs involved and make organic produce consistently available.
• Marketing Organic – Joint marketing campaigns, awareness on qualities and benefits of organic produce. A clear and uniform message from all retailers would boost market confidence and awareness of organic.
• Production scheduling – Traders could list the most consumed produce and farmers to focus on consistently growing them.
• Registry plus certification for organic producers in Kenya – This would allow for greater access to organic producers and greater availability of organic produce.
• Meeting between traders and farmers to fix premium process based on current conventional prices.

Min 13-OVFBG 0312/2020 Outlook

• It was decided that all stakeholder interested in Organic Fruits and Vegetables to Meet in December or early January to start discussions on how to address the problems in organic and pursue joint business opportunities.
• A WhatsApp group to be created where the stakeholders can interact.

 

2.     MINUTES OF THE 1^st ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 15^TH JANUARY 2021 IN ZOOM (ONLINE PLATFORM)

Stakeholders Present

	Name	Organisation	Contact
1.	Yash Wadhwa	The Cornershop	0716 905 486
2.	Samuel Maina	Murang’a Organic Growers Cooperative	0724 912 924
3.	Grace Wangui	Agrifood Organics Shop
4.	Joseph Ngure Makara	Kangari Organic
5.	Cresence Kirigi Mbatia	Murang’a Organic Growers Cooperative
6.	Joseph Kabogo	Baraka Organic Kangari
7.	Irene Kadzere	PMCA	+41 76 335 68 06
8.	Deepu Mahajan	Being You Ltd	0722 350 803
9.	Clement Rurinja	PMCA	0718 062 479
10.	Duncan Ndirangu	Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya	0735 219 246
11.	Christine Chege	Agrifood Organics Shop	0721 475 770
12.	Lawrence Gitonga	PMCA	0723 669 212
13.	Mary Njeri	Green Wells Organics	0713 778 900
14.	Priti	Being You Ltd
15.	Andreas	Africrops Ltd	+49 175 418 98 38
16.	Kelvin Ogalo	Organic Fruitas and Vegetal Stores
17.	David Omato	Organic Fruitas and Vegetal Stores	0702 044 517
18.	Martin Njoroge	PMCA	0725 295 437
19.	Kamande	Samawakama Organic Growers Cooperative	0720 211 777

Min 01-OVFBG 1501/2021 Preliminaries

Meeting started at 15:00 pm East African Time (EAT) Mr. Martin (facilitator) requested all members present to introduce themselves.

Min 02-OVFBG 1501/2021 Adoption of the Agenda

1. Introductions and background of participants
2. Review of Organic Business Summit discussion group recommendations
3. Future Meetings

Min 03-OVFBG 1501/2021 Stakeholders Updates

Since organic vegetables and fruits; group was formed on 3/12/2020 there has been several engagements between the organic farmers (Sabasaba (Samawakama) and Kangari (Kangari organic farmers and Murang’a organic co-operative) and traders, retailers and processors of the organic products.

Mr. Martin introduced the objectives of the formation of the group and role played by Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) towards the success of the organic products market.

There was engagement among the stakeholders in identifying the opportunities from the December summit which will lead successful business opportunities and expansion of the existing ones.

One on one engagement among the farmers and stakeholders along the organic vegetables and fruits will go a long way in bridging the marketing gap. Three thematic groups were formed to foresee the market development which are;

1. Organic fruits and vegetables for local market
2. Organic fruits for export
3. Organic herbs and spices.

Update from organic business summit discussion

• Organic foods market to improve the health status of the consumers
• Explicit production of exotic food such as cucumber.
• Herbs are becoming popular
• There are limited sources of root crops such as cassava and arrowroots
• There is a gap on the consumer awareness on organic health foods
• There is a demand rise on the organic produce
• Lack of market is partly caused by logistics such as transportation and aggregation
• There should be an annual meeting between organic farmers, retailers, traders and producers
• Low consumer awareness on organic foods
• Quality difference between conventional and organic produce
• Unpredictability of production
• Lack of loyalty on contracts
• Prices fluctuations
• Lack of proper information on certification
• Need to create an information platform
• Need to upscale government representation on the organic sector meetings
• There is low supply of traditional vegetables despite higher demand on them

Way forward from the Business Summit Discussions

• Need to do joint promotion on organic products to boost confidence of the consumers.
• Have register for structural access of the produces
• All interested stake holders to frequently meet to pursue the opportunities
• Need to know what is in demand, what is planted in farms and what can be improved and proper information on the prices
• Have integration and collaboration to have an exclusive way of moving forward
• Show value to consumers and sensitization
• Work on pricing and packaging for proper marketing

Min 04-OVFBG 1501/2021 Way Forward

All member present saw the need to have a physical meeting to discuss;

1. More engagement between the stakeholders (farmers, traders, retailers and supporting actors)
2. Further discussion on bridging the gaps identified (Pricing, supply stabilisation, logistics)
3. Creating a common message for organic among all value chain actors to be communicated to consumers (creating awareness and sharing information on organic)
4. How to increase profitability and business in the organic value chain.

How to cope with The physical meeting was planned for Friday 22^nd at Organic Fruitas and Vegatal Stores Next Gen Mall, Mombasa road, hosted by Kelvin Ogalo.

Min 05-OVFBG 1501/2021Adjournment

Meeting ended 16:20 pm  E.A.T.

3.     MINUTES OF THE 2nd ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 22nd JANUARY 2021 AT ORGANIC FRUITAS SHOP NEXT GEN MALL

Stakeholders Present

	Name	Organisation	Contact
20.	Kelvin Job Ogaro	Organic Stores Ltd
21.	Mercy Kemunto	Organic Stores Ltd
22.	Angela Atieno	Organic Stores Ltd
23.	Alice Kimani	Organic Stores Ltd
24.	David Omato	Organic Stores Ltd
25.	Alfred Mwangi	Organic Stores Ltd
26.	Priti Shah	Being You Ltd
27.	Deepu Mahajan	Being You Ltd
28.	Lukas Njenga	Deed Institute
29.	Helen Njenga	Deed Institute
30.	Sylvia Kuria	Sylvia’s Basket
31.	Grace Wangui	Agrifood Organics
32.	Mary Karani	Hermes Investments
33.	Johnson Nyaga Muturi	OACK
34.	Martin Njoroge	PMCA/ KOAN
35.	Emma Njoki	PMCA
36.	Clement Rurinja	PMCA
37.	Lawrence Gitonga M	PMCA
38.	Janet Chege	Organic Farmer
39.	Zipporah Wairimu	Organic Farmer
40.	Lucy Muigai	Organic Farmer
41.	Beatrice Nyambura	Organic Farmer
42.	Harrison Kihara	Organic Farmer
43.	Samuel Maina Ndirangu	Organic Farmer
44.	Joseph H. Mbogo	Organic Farmer
45.	Jackline Njeri	KOAN

Min 01-OVFBG 2201/2021 Preliminaries

Meeting started at 10.30 East African Time (EAT) Mr. Martin (facilitator) requested all members present to introduce themselves.

Min 02-OVFBG 2201/2021 Adoption of the Agenda

5. Introductions and background of participants
6. Stakeholder Mapping Exercise
7. Success Factors in Organic Business
8. Opportunities and Strategies in organic business
9. Action Points/Way Forward
10. Next meeting

Min 03-OVFBG 2201/2021 Introductions and backgrounds

Mr. Martin introduced the objectives of the formation of the group and role played by Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) towards the success of the organic products market.

This he reiterated was highly dependent on engagement among the stakeholders in identifying business opportunities in the organic veg and fruit sector which will lead successful trading and expansion of the existing lines of business.

Knowing each other’s business was mentioned as a first step. Traders and retailers normally compete for the same market, traders and retailers as well normally have frequent misunderstanding with farmers as their main produce suppliers. These are problems experienced in both conventional and organic agriculture.

1. Retailers
2. Organic Store – Organic stores was represented by Kelvin Job Ogaro, Mercy Kemunto, Angela Atieno, Alice Kimani, David Omato and Alfred Mwangi. The store has one outlet with at the Next Gen Mall with two upcoming locations along Ngong Road and Mombasa Road. They deal in mostly organic fruits (having recently ventured into the juicing as a value add) and vegetables, with dry good forming the remainder of their product listing.
3. Being You Ltd – Was represented by Priti Shah and Deepu Mahajan. Being You doubles as both a trader and producer targeting mainly supermarkets and other outlets with produce from their farms. They deal with fresh vegetables and herbs mainly focused on the local market.
4. Deed Institute – Was represented by Lukas Njenga and Helen Njenga, triples as a producer, trader and consultancy firm. They grow pineapples in wholesale for export and local market, they also offer consultancy on international and local market compliance (HACCP, GLOBALGAP).
5. Sylvia’s Basket- was represented by Sylvia Kuria. Sylvia’s basket has an outlet in Soko Safi Mall along Ngong Road. The shop deals with assorted Organic Vegetable and Fruits sourced from all over Kenya.
6. Agrifood Organic – represented by Grace Wangui. Situated in Ruiru along Thika Road, the shop deals in Organic Vegetables and Fruits.
7. Farmers –

Farmers from Murang’a were represented by, Janet Chege, Zipporah Wairimu, Lucy Muigai. Beatrice Nyambura, Harrison Kihara, Samuel Maina Ndirangu and Joseph H. Mbogo. Most of them ventured into organic farming for personal health protection and also to benefit from the business opportunities found in selling chemical free food.

1. Supporting Actors –
2. Hermes Investment – Represented by Mary Karani, they provide organic certification and production farm advisory. As well as organic agriculture media content creation.
3. Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya – Represented by Johnson Nyaga Muturi, they provide training and capacity building for farmers on organic production. They are the organization responsible for mobilizing the farmers interested in organic business opportunities with the retailers and traders.
4. PMCA Facilitators– represented by Martin Njoroge, Emma Njoki, Clement Rurinja and Lawrence Gitonga M. They facilitate the business groups by reaching out to the stakeholders and coordinating all the meetings. There are 3 business group, the Organic Vegetables & Fruits for Local Market Business Group, The Organic Fruits for Export Business Group and the Organic Herbs and Spices Business Group.
5. Kenya Organic Agriculture Network – Represented by Jackline Njeri. They work with all Organic sector actors to promote business and advocacy for pro-organic government policy both at National and Count Level.

Min 04-OVFBG 2201/2021

From the introductions all the actors were mapped to visualize the value chain and the number of players at each level.

SUPPORTING ACTORS/ PRIVATE

PROCESSORS

PRODUCERS/ FARMERS

TRADERS

RETAILERS

CONSUMERS

Figure 2 Map of Actors

Min 05-OVFBG 2201/2021

The main value chain actors identified from the mapping exercise were then asked to list the most important factors necessary for her business to be successful.

Organic Stores

1. Well-coordinated system of farmers to supply organic produce
2. Properly priced products
3. Good marketing and sales strategy – Dispelling common myths in organic like ‘Organic food is expensive’, ‘Is organic really authentic?’, reaching all sectors (government, private sector and all other consumers).

Agrifood

1. Marketing – Branding, joint media campaigns, social media
2. Having quality products – Grading and having a good quality management system.
3. Timeliness of delivery – Delays lead to losses
4. Quantity of produce – timeliness and capacity to deliver the right quantities expected.
5. Awareness and Sensitization – Communicating to consumers why organic over conventional food.

Sylvia’s Basket

1. Pricing – Organic consumers despite popular belief are also very price sensitive. The prices have to be competitive
2. Farmers network – having a diverse farmers network to ensure consistency in supply of common produce
3. Marketing –Word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing currently. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) are somewhat effective, and joint campaigns.
4. Location- this a big driver of customers, with the right location clientele will find it easy to access your product and services and allow you to fulfill orders through deliveries.
5. Logistical partner – Sylvia’s Basket has partnered with Wells Fargo to allow them to access produce from all over the country at a much subsidized cost. This makes access to some hard to get fruits and vegetables easy and cost effective especially when they come from remote parts of the country.
6. Authenticity – Sylvia’s Baskets as a business has focused on branding themselves as a farm to fork business with regular posting of experiences on and off the farm (through social media) this allows customers to know exactly how their produce is grown and build a relationship with the brand. Transparency by allowing clients and other interested parties to visit their farm and witness the process of farming, this has been used to convert non-believers to religious customers.

Being You Ltd

1. Location – though relatively new the company strives to access more consumers by positioning themselves as close to the market as possible.
2. Marketing – they mostly rely on word of mouth marketing, and a bit of social media (WhatsApp).

Murang’a Organic Farmers Cooperative

1. Market – Murang’a organic farmers’ cooperative society focuses on local market to sell a substantial amount of their produce. They do this at their local market every Tuesday and Thursday. They also have existing business with organic retailers and traders in Nairobi such as The Corner Shop, Sylvia’s basket and Fine Aromas of Kenya.
2. Training – Farmers in the cooperative are constantly trained on organic production methods to make sure high quality produce is grown and marketed
3. Sensitization – The cooperative also conducts sensitization of local people at the farmers’ market to make them aware of organically grown food and its benefits to health and the environment.
4. Expenses- The cooperative tries to keep costs down by avoiding high logistical costs, hence choosing to sell through the farmers’ market. The also try to negotiate for business where the buyer gets the produce from their cold room to reduce rejects and other wastage.

Min 06-OVFBG 2201/2021 Opportunities and Strategies in organic business

After discussions on individual business success factors, a more general approach was broached. What are the industry realities and how can opportunities for all value chain actors be extracted from these realities?

1. The notion that Organic Foods are expensive/ have to be expensive is driving people away from buying. Kenya has a very price sensitive market. As well, Sylvia noted that organic farming is expensive for the first 3-5 years, after that productivity and cost of production goes up and down respectively, therefore at that point growing organic is much cheaper than conventional.
2. Presentation and quality – Due to pest and disease control challenges, capacity of farmers, sometimes organic produce cannot match conventional in terms of visual quality. They may have blemishes and reduced shelf life. This is a factor that makes consumers less willing to buy organic food since it is not as attractive. Creating awareness about organic produce and marketing the strongest qualities i.e. Safe – Chemical Free Food, highly nutritious would be able to drum up better demand.
3. Pricing – currently there is not pricing mechanism to dictate how much premium should be charged at farm gate and this is across the value chain where more costs are loaded before it gets to the consumers. Farmers feel short changed when they sell at low prices only for their produce to be sold at exorbitant prices, while other costs might factor into the final consumer price, the lack of transparency creates a challenge for doing business. What can be done to ensure farmers produce cost effectively?
4. Transportation and logistics makes it hard for farmers and retailers to work efficiently since it factors into the overall price and quality of the produce. s
5. Supply and Demand – Farmers have potential to grow more but the market to absorb extra production is not guaranteed. They are able to use irrigation to boost production during drier months. As it stands production is based on market availability.  As well focus on products actually in demand and not just the same narrow variety of products.
6. Pricing at the local level is not differentiated, the farmers have to sell their produce at the same price as conventional to be able to get customers.
7. Brokers – Large scale organic farmers are subject to brokers since there are few large scale buyers of organic food in the local market.

How could the realities in the market lead to business opportunities?

One of the ideas championed was coming up with a Consortium of organic retailers. Where all interested retailers could combine resources to build effective demand for organic produce in the local market. This would ensure

• There is Unity of purpose
• Low hanging fruits in terms of business opportunities could be taken advantage of.
• New market territories could be easily carved out.

The consortium could work together to figure out how to address their main challenges in the organic sector such as how to

• Understand the delivery process and improve logistics (Reduce transport costs)
• Ensure high standards of hygiene are followed by farmers
• How to sensitize consumers and market organic produce?

It was suggested that targeting a specific sector would allow for better outcomes since all energy could be focused there. The health sector was highlighted as having the biggest potential for market growth. If they can gain audience with government and other decision makers it could form part of the low hanging fruit.

A strategy for targeting the health sector by the consortium needs to be devised, to be included in the strategy could be

• The main message body
• Social media platforms to be used
• Mainstream media partners
• Target organisations

Min 07-OVFBG 2201/2021 Way Forward and Action Points

A strategy for targeting the health sector by the consortium needs to be devised, to be included in the strategy could be

• The main message body
• Social media platforms to be used
• Mainstream media partners
• Target organisations

Action Points

1. Each Organisation in the Value Chain to come up with 3 messages / message bodies for the Health Sector.
2. Review and discussions of the message body
3. Each Organisation to make a presentation on how they leverage social media for best impact.
4. Discussions on which organisations in the health sector to be targeted
5. Ideas how to operationalize the consortium.

Min 08-OVFBG 2201/2021 Next Meeting

Date: Tuesday February 9^th 2021

Venue: Kangari Organic Farmers’ market

Time: 10.00am

Other details – It takes roughly 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Kangari from Nairobi Thika Road.

Meeting ended 14:20 pm E.A.T.

 

 

4.     MINUTES OF THE 3RD ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 9^TH FEBRUARY 2021 IN KANGARI

 

Min 01-OVFBG 0902/2021 Preliminaries

Meeting started at 10.00 East African Time (EAT) with a farm visit to see how the farmers manage their farms.

Min 02-OVFBG 0902/2021 Adoption of the Agenda

11. Farm visit
12. Kangari Organic Farmers Market visit
13. Aggregation point/ cold room visit
14. Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya
15. Action Points/Way Forward
16. Next meeting

Min 03-OVFBG 0902/2021 Kangari Organic Farmers Market visit

Being a field visit, the visitors were takes through the Kangari organic farmers market to observe how the farmers marketed their produce to local the local community. The market had over 30 farmers with more than 20 different vegetable and fruit items. The Kangari organic farmers market is held every Tuesday and Thursday with the farmers having well branded dust coats to distinguish them from other traders. The farmers pay the County market fees just like other traders and are able to market their produce. Although the market is a good outlet to get clients they are still willing to engage buyers to increase their sales revenue.

From this perspective the retailers and traders from PMCA were able to interact with the farmers and not just their leaders and create

Min 04-OVFBG 0902/2021 Kangari Organic Farmers Market visit

Murang’a organic Farmers cooperative has a cold room build to house their produce and keep it fresh when fulfilling orders from buyers outside the county. The cold room also serves a packing and grading point to make sure orders are processed waiting for collection by the buyers.

The parties present were taken through the operation of the cold room and how the farmers process orders.

The cold room is a charcoal a ambient cooling structure which utilizes thermal regulation through evapotranspiration as the main cooling mechanism. Water is trickled all around the walls of the structure and through evaporation the interior of the structure is cooled. The process takes a few hours before it reaches maximum cooling efficiency, therefore they start trickling the water several hours before the order is processed to make sure the room is at optimum temperature before produce starts to be received.

Order fulfillment process;

1. The marketing committee receives orders from buyers
2. From the roster of members, they call and establish how much of the produce required they have.
3. From this information they allocate quantities and the request for the produce to be delivered to the cold room.
4. At the cold room, each batch from the various farmers is processed separately.
5. Each farmers’ batch is labelled and number to identify them and enhance traceability.
6. Processed produce is stored in crates in the cold room awaiting collection by the buyers.

Other discussions

• The traders and retailers inquired on how the farmers priced their produce particularly for the local market. Since they incurred minimal transport and logistical costs, the marketing representatives responded by affirming that they did not have any price differentiation between conventional and organic produce. The traders/retailers requested that if the same facility could be extended to them, since they have to expend more money in transport and logistics, if they got the produce at a fair price, then they would be able to compete effectively in their respective markets. They resolved to work on price standardization to ensure fair pricing and avoid over pricing the consumers.
• The farmers noted that they would be willing to work on such a model if more volumes could be achieved. The PMCA team resolve to engage more traders/ retailers and process in future to improve the probability of striking a deal and selling more produce.
• The traders/ retailers inquired on what measures the farmers had in place to ensure steady and consistent supply. The farmers spoke of planting calendars but noted that since the pandemic struck and orders for produce declined most of the members had stopped following them since they could not be assured of markets. As well they noted that with the big membership subscription, the cooperative could always be assured to have a variety of produce, provided it is in season. The group resolved to work on how to make the steady supply of the products from the farmers.
• As well, the farmers noted that they had challenges and would require capacity building and trainings to improve their supply and produce quality.
• Since the farmers were under a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) by KOAN, the group resolved to improve traceability to enhance trust among the stakeholders that will ensure the that only organic produce is traded by organic farmers and traders.
• The traders / retailers also face considerable challenges in the market, which they would work to identify and resolve to establish long-term business operations.

 

Min 05-OVFBG 0902/2021 Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya

The participant made their way to the Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya, where they had their lunch and agreed on the next steps.

Next steps

1. Work out on ways to define what is organic
2. Work on standardizing orders and sizes

• Work out on how to solve the logistical issues creating an effective logistics models.

1. Improving produce and packaging quality as per the standards of the productions – identifying standards

Min 06-OVFBG 0902/2021 Next Meeting

Date: Friday 26^th February 2021

Venue: Manyatta Sabasaba – Wakas Organic Demo Farm

Time: 10.00am

Other details – It takes roughly 1 hour to get to Sabasaba from Nairobi Thika Road.

Meeting ended 15:20 pm E.A.T.

5.     MINUTES OF THE 4^th ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 26^th FEBRUARY 2021 AT WAKAS DEMONSTRATION FARM SABASABA

Agendas

1.organic messaging body

2.logistics

Min 01-OVFBG 2602/2021 Prayers

Min 02-OVFBG 2602/2021 Preliminary.

Min 03-OVFBG 2602/2021: expectations.

After the introductions, everyone was requested to state their expectations outcome form the meeting.

The following were the responses.

• Know more about the organic markets
• Know where to sell their organic farm produce
• Know the buyers and what they need from the farms
• How to expand farming to agribusiness enterprise
• Where and who to sell to
• Organic market quality requirement
• Know more about market standardization required for the organic market producers
• Know how to connect with buyers
• Meet other organic farmers and know more about farming from their experience
• Know what other organic farmers are producing and connect with them
• Traders to collaborate with other buyers to address on how to address the logistics
• Traders to know what farmers are growing, how its grown and where to sell
• Add more buyers to the chain
• Transform organic farming to suit with the current consumer requirements.

Min 04-OVFBG 2602/2021   Current logistical chain of operations

Each group was asked to explain how they handle the market chain. It emerged that they all have a similar chain i.e., a call is received for order, price negotiations is set, the amount of order is stipulated, harvesting and aggregation is done, the produce is delivered/transported to the buyer and then the payment is later done, mostly payment is through m-pesa and sometimes a group cheque is issued whereby its cashed and each farmer is paid according to their delivered amount.

Some buyers however are purchasing direct from the farmers through their coordinated groups, especially the samawakama groups whereby the umbrella group sometimes negotiates the terms of engagement.

Gatanga and kangari farmers sells their produce through the co-operative and they have a coordinator who receives orders from the buyers, consolidates and have the aggregated done and plans on delivery structure to the buyers.

Kangari organic market was also highlighted as a successful one and happening every Tuesday. It has a variety of organic items and there is increasing consumers and demand rate.

Min 05-OVFBG 2602/2021. Organic messaging body.

Everyone was requested to define what is organic. From their definition, key words were identified to form a good message which is suitable for market. However, everyone was tasked to consolidate a good message to be analyzed in the next meeting. The following are the key words to be adopted and not limited to:

1. Process
2. No using synthetic chemicals
3. Handling
4. Management
5. Natural growing
6. Environment
7. Own composition
8. Processing
9. No artificial additions
10. No health repercussions
11. No modifications
12. Certified
13. standards

Min 06-OVFBG 2602/2021. Logistics

Logistics mostly on aggregation and transport from the farm level to the market place is a challenge. This is because of the volumes required in the market being low yet the transport cost is high. To solve this issue, the following were the possible solutions discussed by the present stakeholders.

1. Farmers to give fair prices to the traders to enable them sell fairy to consumers as well as to have competitive prices with conventional
2. Having sorting and grading done at the aggregation center and farm level to avoid rejection and waste after delivery
3. Buyer to seek a common transport to share the transportation cost so as to reduce the cost.
4. Farmers to work producing the produces that are on demand
5. Have a common catalogue on what the buyers need (market demand) and what the farmers are producing (updated frequently to cover seasonality)
6. Have a timely ordering time to allow time for sourcing and aggregation of the produces.
7. Have proper co-ordination from all the buyers and the farmers co-ordination team to have timely preparation for orders and delivery.

Min 07-OVFBG 2602/2021 Action plan

The following are the things that needs to be done.

1. Create a whatsapp group for all the traders for planning on logistical issues
2. Profile 196 farmers from Sabasaba
3. Identify collection centers i.e.
4. Kangari
5. Gatanga (Kirwara)
6. Sabasaba (Wakas)
7. Discuss on way forward to solve moisture loss and prices of the produce.

Min 08-OVFBG 2602/2021 Adjournment

The next meeting will be held on 12^th March, 2021 @sylvia basket, Ndeiya.

The meeting ended with a word of prayer from Clement.

6.     MINUTES OF THE 5^th ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGETABLES MEETING HELD ON 12^th MARCH 2021 AT SYLVIA’S BASKET FARM NDEIYA

Agendas.

1. Can organic feed the world
2. expectations
3. Action point and Price setting
4. Farm Tour

Min 01-OVFBG 1203/2021 Prayers

The opening prayers were led by Caroline of Sylvia basket.

Min 02-OVFBG 1203/2021 Preliminary.

Sylvia welcomed everyone to the farm and gave a brief overview of the farm map and their operations.

Min 03-OVFBG 1203/2021 : expectations.

After the introductions, everyone was requested to state their expectations outcome form the meeting.

The following were the responses.

• Know more about the organic farming
• Know more how organic farming works in hot region
• Know more about markets and logistics
• Know about diversification with weather change
• Know about Sylvia basket and how they operate
• Work more on team building of the sector
• Work on action point identified.
• Work on identified collection centers.

Min 04-OVFBG 1203/2021   action point and price setting

The present members agreed on solving the underlying issues on delivery and payment of the orders,

They also agreed on setting the prices so as to avoid mistrust in the operation. Though there was some problems in prices setting and communication which was discussed and solved through the small group.

The prices were also set on the through the consensus by various representatives of various commodities. However they are subject to further discussions and confirmation between the two parties.

They also said that the orders needs to be communicated early enough to help farmers consolidate their produce in time for delivery.

There was an agreement to also have a standard measurement of produce in kgs. This is to make sure that all the parties are satisfied with the produce and prices offered.

There was a trial run on the market which showed some gaps on the produce quantity, quality and prices which helped in planning the future market and price setting. There will be further trials for other markets to come up with a successful set-up of the future markets.

Image 1 Price List Set on March 2021

Min 05-OVFBG 1203/2021   Adjournment

The next meeting will be held on 15^th April, 2021 @Kirwara, Gatanga during the launching of Gatanga organic market, .

The meeting ended with a word of prayer from Clement.

The Process is Facilitated by the following team;

1. Martin Njoroge Kimani – (+254) (0) 725295437 – martin@koan.co.ke
2. Clement Adongo Rurinja – (+254) (0) 718062479 – clementrurinja@gmail.com
3. Emma Njoki – (+254) (0) 727883138 – emnjoki2@gmail.com
4. Lawrence Gitonga – (+254) (0) 723669212 – lawtosh@gmail.com
5. Mary Wanjiru – (+254) (0) 727328691 -nderitumaria@gmail.com

The following Groups are represented