Food Bundles

Food Bundles is a mobile-based technology solution designed to digitize the fresh food supply chain, right from farms of smallholder farmers to consumers in cities. By digitizing the supply chain, Food Bundles creates a resilient and sustainable market for smallholders reducing post-harvest loss, increasing farmers’ income up to 60% income and availing nutritious, affordable fresh food to consumers in cities, saving up to 40%. 

Consumers in cities have the option to order bundles from our website, our partner food delivery apps as well as our own digital platform that uses USSD technology. The consumer can pay using Mobile Money and or Visa and MasterCard. A consumer who orders from our website or food delivery apps receives their bundles at their door while we enable the other consumer to collect their bundles from our sales agents in the city neighborhoods.

Close to 75% of the 12million population of Rwanda is dependent on farming for their livelihoods, yet post-harvest losses remain a major challenge to many small holders countrywide. About 40% post-harvest loss is linked to a lack of appropriate storage facilities and markets, forcing smallholder farmers to sell most of their produce at very low prices, leaving them poor and vulnerable.

The current food supply chain consists of many stages, driven by middlemen whose implications impact the income and commercialization for farmers and raises the cost for consumers. In most cases, the real profits go to middlemen who buy up from farmers at almost giveaway prices and sell at very high prices. By reducing the number of middlemen, Food Bundles is at a strategic position of empowering both farmers and consumers using low resources digital technology.

 We are currently conducting a pilot with farmers in 4 districts, and serving the market in the city of Kigali. The population in Kigali is estimated at 1.2M, with approximately 300,000 households of which 150,000 households can afford our bundles. We estimate that at least 45,000 households will be buying our bundles a week, and aim to get 30% of the total market.

Food Bundles has a network of independent agronomists who support our farmers to increase productivity and also act as our aggregators. A farmer declares their produce using USSD technology available on both feature phones and smartphones, and gets paid on Mobile Money. The produce is collected by our aggregators who control the quantity and quality. The produce is stored at our collection centers equipped with cold-rooms before they are transported in cold trucks to our distribution centers in cities, also equipped with cold-rooms.

Consumers in cities have the option to order bundles from our website, our partner food delivery apps as well as our own digital platform that uses USSD technology. The consumer can pay using Mobile Money and or Visa and MasterCard. A consumer who orders from our website or food delivery apps receives their bundles at their door while we enable the other consumer to collect their bundles from our sales agents in the city neighborhoods.

Agriculture employs 82% of employed women in Rwanda. Food Bundles promotes social-economic inclusive growth by empowering women and youth through the creation of decent jobs in the agriculture value chain. As a reflection on ourselves, 70% of Food Bundles employees are women and youths. We will partner with women farmer cooperatives, encouraging them to form Self Help Groups(SHGs). Increased income from their farming will make them more financially able and creditworthy to access, addressing the existing gender gap. 70% of Food Bundles are women.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food lost or wasted emits 4.4 gigatons of greenhouse gases each year, which is more than four times as much annual greenhouse gas emissions as aviation. Food loss and waste contribute to the three planetary crisis ,the climate crisis, the biodiversity and nature crisis; and the pollution and waste crisis – wasting inputs such as land and water. Providing farmers with direct access to markets through Food Bundles will significantly reduce food waste to 10%, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases from agricultural activities and increasing sustainable productivity.

We are currently conducting a pilot with farmers in 4 districts, and serving the market in the city of Kigali, with a regular 100 household buying from our platform and affiliated partners. The population in Kigali is estimated at 1.2M, with approximately 300,000 households of which 150,000 households can afford our bundles. We estimate that at least 45,000 households will be buying our bundles a week, and aim to get 30% of the total market