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Globally , a third of the food produced is lose or waste , and in Kenya , thatfigurestands between 20 % and 40 % . For Kenya , unlike the highly-developed world , nutrient loss , not waste , is the greater problem , with little - musical scale farmers , who account for 75 % of the total farming output signal in the country , face up a myriad of challenge , including inadequate market linkage and a unsuccessful person to meet the enhancive specifications for their garden truck .
For a transition , several startups are emerging looking to bridge the market col for Farmer . Farm to Feed , an agtech company free-base in Kenya , is one of the degenerate risers in the blank space . The startup aggregate farm green groceries , let in fallible craw products — like those considered too small , too large or too curiously regulate to be want by distributors — and sells them to businesses like eating place and intellectual nourishment processors through its sales channels , including an on-line market place .
Claire Van Enk , Farm to Feed CEO , co - establish the startup withAnouk BoertienandZara Benosain 2021 , after pivoting from a non-profit-making program that provided food to mass who lose their income during the COVID-19 lockdown . She enounce , while source produce from Fannie Farmer , it became apparent to her that while food was ample , grocery store access remained a major hindrance , lead to the startup ’s launching .
“ I find out firsthand what Fannie Farmer were not sell even when markets returned , and it is a huge desolation not only on food security , but on the economy too , ” Van Enk said , adding that food exit and solid food wasteland have a climate change aspect , with rotting foodstuff produce methane , a greenhouse gas that is worse than carbon dioxide .
She launched the commercial-grade byplay to tackle the problem on a larger scale .
The inauguration uses aggregators to roll up garden truck from small- and large - scale farmers in key land regions of the East African body politic . Farm to Feed teams then sort , grade and dispatch the products to clients from its storage warehouse in Kenya ’s capital , Nairobi .
It uses leased trucks but is tell to be acquiring truck with sustainable cooling answer following a Ulysses S. Grant funding from IFC TechEmerge . To appointment , the startup has raised $ 1 million in fairness and grant funding from various VCs , backer investors and institutions , including the Catalyst Fund , Renew Capital , Bayer Foundation , Mercy Corps AgriFin , IFC TechEmerge , DEG develoPPP , RAIN Challenge , and the GSMA Innovation Fund .
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Van Enk say they have multiple sales channel , include its salespersons , the web app and , soon , a WhatsApp chatbot for customer opt the societal commerce route .
Other inauguration join Farmer to markets include Ghanaian agtechFarmerline , which is also giving them access code to timber stimulation , andComplete Farmer , which finds global markets for their produce . They are a part of the pioneer tapping chance in the sphere , a key manufacture in sub - Saharan Africa that contributes about 23 % of the gross domestic product in a part where 60 % of the population are smallholder farmers . The sector ’s grandness to Africa ’s growth can not be overstate and has made it a fundamental area of focus for innovators like Farm to Feed .
Data collection
On top of the einsteinium - commerce platform , Van Enk pronounce they are build a information platform by collecting granular datum , including on climate and driver of food passing , for better farming outcomes and to make a more circular food for thought system .
Van Enk tell that from their organization , which grades food , “ and using the data political program , we will hear to see out some of the reasons behind , for instance , the disfiguring of green goods . If it is because of piteous quality seeds , this can be solved by partnering with entities that provide tone source , and if the reason is forged harvesting techniques , then we can hold out targeted training on the best way to do it . ”
The startup is presently campaign a economic value - addition pilot program to research new revenue streams too .
“ When you do more value addition , there ’s a real opportunity to do border elaboration . I do think that food loss is such a Brobdingnagian impact opportunity and also a very near commercial opportunity , ” she said . “ I really believe there ’s so much we can do with odd - looking produce and really produce value for the sodbuster but also for the future of Farm to Feed . ”
It is also see to tap the C market and has done a feasibleness study in the hope of being pioneer of a new methodology by Verra , a non-profit-making organization that operates standards in environmental and societal markets that quantify emission reducing from reducing food loss and waste . This will allow the inauguration to earn from selling carbon copy cancel credits .
