Bad brokers, bad business: a story of conniving brokers at githurai 45 market

If you want to get more sales and more profit selling vegetables...
Then beware of the underhand dealings of brokers in fresh produce markets.
Let me teach you how to sell in fresh produce markets through brokers to the right clients, at the right price. What these customers need...
And the steps you need to take every day to succeed in selling fresh produce in markets around the Kenya.

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Dear hardworking farmer,
Do you often find the prices offered for your produce being too low, for you to recover the costs of production?
You want to earn more from your hard work, so you desire to sell to the right people and at the right price.
But, you find yourself surrounded by fresh produce market brokers, who gang up to buy your produce at a low price.
However, how do you find the right people who are willing to pay you the true value of your produce?
Should you avoid selling in open-air markets like Gikomba, Marigiti, Wakulima, Githurai, Korogocho market, and focus on selling to supermarkets?
Here is what research institutions found out, on the purchasing habits of consumers in Nairobi and other parts of the country.

Consumers in Nairobi follow a shopping pattern that is highly diversified across food groups. When asked where they shopped for food during the previous month, over 90% indicated that they had purchased at least one food item in three or more types of retail outlets. This pattern is quite stable across income groups. Between 80-90% of households visited an open-air market, a traditional duka, or a shop. Focusing on fresh produce, 72% visited an open-air market, and 56% a kiosk. Only 6% made fresh produce purchases in a supermarket chain. Working paper 16- Tegemeo institute of Agricultural policy and development

Small-scale vendors (Mama Mboga) control 97 per cent of the highly profitable fruit and vegetable business. Supermarkets only control three per cent of the sales, mainly because of supply problems. Anna Mutahi, Director TNS RMS East Africa

Fact: you cannot avoid selling your produce in the open-air markets because that’s where the buyers are. Unfortunately, these markets are under the control of brokers, and that’s why you need to know how to handle the brokers.
So how will you win this struggle? In a bid to find answers to farmers complaints, many universities, Ngo’s and community-based organizations, have recommended this solution...

“Grow what the market wants, not what you think they want.”

Growing what the market wants means that you are in control, and the market will be willing to buy at your price. Today I’ll tell you of how I did just that, and made sizzling profit. I want to sharpen you so that you may be a knowledgeable farmer.
Let’s start with the first thing that you need to know.
The best time to get your produce the market is when there is a biting shortage.
How do you do that?
You should research on the best time to produce. Remember this important point, “the changes of season affect the production of every crop, either positively or negatively.”
Aim to produce when the season has negatively affected the production of a crop.

Here is a little story of what my market research yielded

Having done research on the selling price of kale and spinach in various markets around the country, I found out, the veggies would sell at a profit in the months of September through November.
Therefore, I planted kale and spinach at the beginning of August 2013 with the intent of selling the produce during the said months.
“My timing was perfect,” because the research pointed to a pattern of scarcity of the vegetables during the said months for the last 10 years.
Thus, the likelihood of making profit, selling the vegetables in the said months was sky-high.

Impact of unexpected change of weather

Kenya always has cool weather in the months of June to August. The cool weather, favors the production of vegetables of the Brassica family like kale, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts among others.
The cool weather extended to the month of October. The unexpected weather change helped other farmers, and I who were growing brassicas.
The cool weather meant that I would do less irrigation than originally planned. The change of weather resulted in an unanticipated boom harvest of kale, cabbage and spinach during the months of September to November.
The usual dry weather from September to November was a trump card that I hoped to draw to make more sales, and I was very successful.
This meant my customers could not but everything my farm produced, because of the bumper crop. “I had to go back to the drawing board, and think of a better way of selling the excess veggies.”

Here’s the plan of selling the excess vegetables

“To sell, the excess vegetables at Githurai 45 market,” was my plan. I had never taken any produce to the market, but I convinced myself the market is a free market, where the freedom of entry and exit exists.
I consulted some traders who informed me, “All you need to sell in the market, to pack the vegetables in gunnysacks, put them in a pick-up and arrive there by 5:00 am.”

Meeting face to face with brokers

When I got to the market, some people, whom I thought were customers, surrounded me. They asked me inquiringly, “How much do you sell a kilo of the vegetables?”
They offered to pay 10/= shillings per kilo of kale or spinach, a price that was two times lower, than what my regular customers offer me.
I did a quick calculation and realized that, I would earn 10,000 shillings, enough to recover all my costs but would make no profit.
A choice had to be made. To sell at the price, and I leave the market early for home, or stay put, and wait for better paying customers.
I chose the latter.
I came to understand later, the people who wanted to buy my veggies were brokers, looking for a quick buck.

A big mistake by a newbie

One thing you need to know, most brokers spend a lot of time in the market daily as they looking for business. It is easy to know farmers who are new to the market.
In my naivety, I committed a terrible blunder of forgetting my weighing scales at home. “How would I confirm the weight of kale or spinach that I sold to customers?” that was my agony.
My lack of weighing scales gave brokers an opportunity to fleece me. Some brokers offered to buy my vegetables, at the price of Shs. 25/= per kilo, but they insisted that I use their weighing scales.
I was relieved...
Little did I know the scales were, thieving scales! Every time a kilo I weighed a kilo of vegetables, another kilo was lost. The scales would weigh 2 kilos instead of one. Though I was suspicious of the amount weighed, there was no way I could verify my suspicions.
That brings me to the big question of business ethics in the fresh produce marketing in Kenya. It is apparent that, the city and municipal councils have abdicated their authority to brokers who conspire to trick hard working farmers and genuine traders.
Back to my story, by the time I finished selling, it had made a modest profit of Kshs. 7,000/= I could have made more were it not for the thieving weighing scales.

Here’s a summary on how to beat market brokers

Aim to produce crops at times of scarcity.
Try selling directly to kiosk owners and mama mbogas and restaurants/hotels.
Conduct a pre visit to the market, a week before taking your produce to the market so that you find out the price trends of the produce you intend to sell.
Always carry a weighing scale for your produce, one that you can rely on.