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.

Interested?
Continue reading...
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.

How to make more profits from your farm by growing lavender

Let me teach you how to grow lavender, sell it to the right customers at the right price, what these customers need... and the steps you need to take every day to succeed in growing lavender in Kenya right now!

Interested?

Continue reading...

 

From the desk of Haron Mogeni,

Horticulturist and Farm manager,

Kiambu Prison farm

Dear hardworking farmer,

Are you searching for an alternative crop that is easy to manage, yields high profit, and is in high demand? You have always grown on your small farm crops like; maize, beans, kale, or potatoes yet the market prices of these crops don’t please you.

Welcome. You’ve landed at the right website. After hours of agonizing and backbreaking research, I have identified the perfect crop that is easy to manage, high in profit and demand.

It is a breakthrough opportunity and the timeliness of your response matters so much. After you complete reading this, you’d be left wondering why your farm is under other crops. In fact, you will lament how you’ve been losing huge profits.

You may be wondering if am qualified to make such a huge promise. Well, I am a graduate of horticulture from Egerton University. Currently a farm manager at Kiambu prison farm.

Therefore, What I’m telling you are not just stories, but things that I have done research on, and have practiced. Not to mention my 10 years experience in the agricultural field.

Farmers in Kenya and everywhere are finding it difficult to earn a living from their farm. This is because of the high costs of production and the stiff competition as they grow what everybody is growing.

Nevertheless, today I want to open your eyes and introduce you to a crop that people rarely consider. A kilo of its produce goes for Kenya shillings 3000/=. If you prefer counting your money in dollars, a kilo of its produce yields you $ 35.

This is the perfect crop for smallholder farms. You don’t need any experience to grow the crop. In fact, if you’ve ever grown any crop, then you are more than qualified to grow lavender.

All you need to know is how, to whom and where to sell this crop. But, don’t worry about that. By the time you finish reading this report, you will have all the skills needed to do just market lavender like a Guru.

Across Europe the demand for herbs is growing— in the UK, for example over the last decade there has been a large increase in people interested in home cookery and experimenting with culinary techniques and different cuisines, which has led to the demand for herbs. The East African Fresh Produce Journal Lavender is known to be one of the famous herbs with the fragrance of its dried flowers and from the oils refined from it. This is typically being use as perfumes, so growing lavender flowers, as a business is truly lucrative. Start up biz hub Question: I like growing herbs in my garden. Which do you recommend? Answer: Lavender Lavender has become increasingly popular as a herb for cooking and industry. The herb produces a perfume so admired that vast fields of lavender plants are grown in England, Provence, Tasmania and morocco to satisfy a worldwide demand for scented soaps, candles, skin lotions, and many products. A few sprigs clustered in a vase can fill an entire room with its romantic fragrance. Swirled in a bathtub, they will even scent the water. Manjala Juluri, ASLA Landscape consultant and designer

 

First thing first: why grow lavender?

Lavender is a worthy crop to grow because of its perennial growing nature. This means its lifespan extends over 1 year. The implication of this is that you will harvest flowers year after year, without replanting it again.

Lavender plants can last for 10-15 years or longer if managed correctly. K M Swanepoel and W G Alberts Department of Agriculture, University of Zululand

Second, lavender can grow over a wide range of altitude between 1000-1700 meters above sea level. The higher the altitude the better as the oil yields tend to increase with altitude. This is because the plant flowers more abundantly in cooler conditions.

Third, you will not worry about pests and diseases, which ravage most crops. However, the plant suffers from phytophora root rot if grown in poorly drained soils, or when overwatered. The plant grows well soils of low fertility.

Lavender ranks high as a sustainable crop because it does not rely on pesticides and fertilizers… ATTRA National sustainable Agriculture Information Service

Fourth, the selling price of lavender products is very high. To find the average prices of a kilo of dried lavender flowers, oil and fragrance, visit online shops like ebay, Amazon and Alibaba.

The prices range from $50-300, which in my opinion are enough to cover the cost of production and leave you with profit.

So, how and where do I start?

Start a nursery. Why do you need to start one? You are likely to face difficulties of getting sufficient planting for your farm. Therefore, you’ll need to multiply what you get.

Another reason for establishing a nursery is to save on costs. An acre requires 15,000-28,000 plants. Now let’s assume one seedling costs $2. That will mean on planting material alone you’ll have to spend $30,000- 56,000.

Establishing a nursery will allow you to save on costs of transport. This is because plant material is bulky in nature. Transporting the material for long distances will be expensive.

One more thing, the cost of planting material constitutes a great percentage of the overall cost of growing lavender. You also want to reduce the cost of planting material and the risk of loss. Thus multiplying your own planting material makes sense.

How to multiply your seedlings

Transplant the planting material you bought into a nursery. Allow it time say 3 months to establish itself, and become vigorous. You will need to take cuttings from the plants.

The best time to take cuttings from lavender is right after they have bloomed. Take cuttings from stems with no flower buds on them. Remove leaves from the bottom half of the cutting and insert it into well draining sterile potting soil or horticultural vermiculite.

Rooting hormone is not necessary. The cuttings should root in about 3 weeks. Transplant rooted cuttings into pots 2-4 inches in diameter. One the plants develop a vigorous root system transplant them to the farm.

Before transplanting the seedling into the farm, contact various restaurants, hotels, as they are the largest consumers of the herb.

Transplanting to the farm

Lavender is not competitive and does not respond well to weed pressure. Prepare the field during dry weather to kill all perennial weeds. You can apply pre-emergent herbicides so that the plants has a head start before weeds.

When planting (lavender agustifolia) or its cultivars, ensure planting material has been propagated vegetatively from cuttings, not started form seed so that you can have true to type plants.

When planting lavender as a crop, spacing depends on the size of the cultivars. Spacing ranges from 2-3 feet within the row and 3-6 feet between rows.

Pruning

Lavender flowers on new growth. Therefore, prune the plants every year after it is established. Pruning should take place when green leaves start to emerge from the base of the plant.

Remove approximately one third of the top. The plant responds well to pruning. Pruning keeps the plant from splitting and becoming too woody.

Harvesting

Harvest the lavender stems in the morning hours when the oils are most concentrated and when approximately 50% of the flower buds have opened. Use a sickle or pruning shears to cut stems as long as possible.

Form bundles of 50-100 stems and bind them with rubber bands. Rubber bands will contract when the stems dry out. Dry the harvested lavender in a cool dark place where there is good air circulation.

Yields of lavender

An acre of true lavender (lavender angustifolia) produces from 150 to 900 kg of dried flowers and about 10 to 20 liters essential oil.

Marketing of lavender

You can market lavender other products in many ways i.e. as dried or fresh flowers, or processed products. Find local buyers like; hotels, marketing agents and companies from chemical and pharmaceutical, as well as food and flavoring industries. Before you start any production, conduct research on the local market of your produce. You can use social networking sites like Linkenld, Facebook, Google plus and other online forum to reach buyers.

International buyers are divided into flavor and fragrance houses, cosmetics and personal health care, aromatherapy and food manufacturers who buy in large quantities.

The major market in the world for essential oils is the United States, followed by Japan and Europe. However, production continues to be concentrated in Europe, with seven of the world’s largest essential oil processing firms.

In the United States, the major users of essential oils are the soft drink companies. Japan accounts for 10 % of the world demand. The Canadian market is dominated by the United States perfume and flavoring industry.