Victoria Agribusiness Ltd.

Over 80% of food consumed in the continent are produced by smallholders , ironically smallholder farmers  are the poorest and the most malnourished.The food supply chain in Africa is fragmented and cumbersome leading to poor prices for the farmers and expensive food in the urban centers. Multiple burdens of malnutrition and hunger still persist particularly among the farmers and the  urban poor.

Smallholder farmers are key to ending hunger worldwide but they are increasingly facing barriers to profitability including  exploitation by middlemen, low farm productivity and high post harvest losses.

We provide a bundle of services including providing the farmers with quality inputs on credit, training them on the Good Agricultural Practices and we purchase produce at harvest for resale to the urban food retailers thereby providing a guaranteed market and better prices for farmers and a convenient supply and cheaper price to the retailers and consumers.

 Victoria Agribusiness connects smallholder farmers to the urban markets. It takes 4 to 7 middlemen for farm produce to reach the urban markets, each adding some mark up leading to poor prices for the farmers and expensive food in the markets. Again, due to the long value chain over 50% of fruits and vegetables  produced in Africa don't reach the market.

 The fragmented food system has made it difficult for the farmers to supply big buyers directly leaving them at  the mercy of unstructured exploitative middlemen.

We  empower the smallholder growers by providing them with farm inputs on credit and procuring produce from them for resale to the urban food retailers and Hotels . The model ensures an increase of 40% t0 60% in farmers and food retailers  incomes while reducing food waste and ensuring quality safe food to the consumers.

We are a B2B platform linking smallholder farmers producing fresh vegetables fruits and grains and distribute to food vendors, Hotels and food processors. Our strategy is to support smallholder growers to produce for the market  and get better prices and a guaranteed market for their produce. We train the farmers on Good Agricultural Practices, provide them with inputs on credit and purchase produce at harvest for resale to the urban food retailers, Hotels and Food Processors. We Pay the farmers within 48 hrs of delivery using mobile money  transfer further making them creditworthy due to the financial statements that they can use in other financial institutions. .

We work with smallholder farmers on one side of the value chain and food vendors, Hotels and food processors on the other side of the value chain. Smallholder farmers benefit from a guaranteed market, increased farm productivity due to use of quality inputs and use of improved production methods  and transparent prices leading to increased incomes and better livelihoods. while the food vendors, Hotels and Food Processors benefit from convenient supply of quality, fresh produce at affordable costs.

We supply the vendors and Hotels at their places of business unlike the current situation where they have to procure produce from the open air market .

We work with community based trainers who interact with the farmers frequently to get feedback from farmers and the traders .

We train the smallholder farmers on Good Agricultural Practices including Integrated Pest Management, safe use of Pesticides, Agroecology among other climate smart  practices to enable them produce in an  environmentally sustainable manner.We promote the use of agricultural  practices that promotes the circular economy.

We are working with over 576 farmers in Western Kenya and 154 food vendors in Kisumu town. We are planning to work with 2000 farmers this year and to scale to 5 counties in Western Kenya. In the next 5 years we plan to work with over 10,000 farmers in Kenya and to scale in the other East Africa Countries.

Smallholder farmers play a critical role in the food system yet they face problems accessing the urban markets due to their fragmentation. Their situation is further worsened by low farm productivity as they are unable to purchase quality seeds and other smart production technologies.

Our innovation lies on empowering the growers and linking them to the market cutting out the long chain in a manner that is efficient to the farmer, food retailers and the general consumers. Farmers are able to increase their farm productivity and incomes while the urban consumers access quality, safe food at lower prices.

We are currently working with 519 farmers and 108 food retailers. We intend to work with 5000 farmers in the next 2 years . In five years we plan to work with 20,000 farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.We will work with these farmers in selected value chains in Horticulture and grains, training the farmers on the Good agricultural practices and linking them to sustaiable markets.

Some of the Key performance indicators we measure are

1. Incomes from sale of produce from farmers we work with

2. Increase in farm productivity

3. Incomes of food vendors fro produce supplied

4. Number of farmers practising improved agricultural practices

We have 6 full time staff and 11 part time staff.

We are a team of professionals with vast knowledge and experience in Community development particularly the agricultural sector. We are passionate about transforming smallholder agriculture . We are committed to transforming the food system in Africa. The founder is a graduate of Horticulture with over 15 years experience working with various organizations including Care International in Kenya, World Council of Credit Union and Africa Agrricultural Technology Foundation where he gained a wealth of experience working with smallholder farmers. The other 2 co founders have experience working in the private sector, one in the private Horticulture sector while the other as a communication Assistant in Kenya Airways.

We promote a culture that respects diversity and empowers everyone regardless of age, race, gender , ethnicity or sexual orientation.. We provide equal opportunity for all and we carry on our business with the goal of providing people of all backgrounds opportunity to prosper.

Over 70% of farmers and food retailers we work with  are women and Youth.

We work with smallholder farmers to supply quality safe food to the urban consumers thereby solving the dual challenge in Africa where rural producers struggle to get a good price for their farm produce while the urban consumers struggle to get quality , nutritious food at affordable price.

We  integrate gender considerations into our impact framework ,
closing gaps between men and women as we strive for inclusive
development. Our production techniques that we train farmers applies
ecological and social concepts and principles  to the design and
management of food system. 70% of smallholder farmers are women and over 90% of the food retailers we work with are women. The fund will help us deepen our reach to women and girls by venturing into more value chains and scaling our activities.

We also enhance carbon sequestration through soil health and forestry
and capitalize on innovative practices to achieve net reduction of the
agricultural sectors current carbon foot print.