UNDP Supporting Ecosystems-Based Approach to Nuts and Oils Value Chains Interventions in Kenya

Masewani Village, Kangundo North Ward of Machakos County, Nicholas Musii, ushers us into the meeting of Bidii Avocado Growers with a question: “How can we do away with brokers?”

Musii, 70, is the chairman of the group that was formed in March 2020. At the dawn of COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya, the 45 members of this group were experiencing reduced returns due to restrictions imposed on international travels, that was hurting export trade in general, including avocado

Pic. Macadamia Nut Processing

farmers. Together, they resolved to protect each other from exploitation by middlemen by forming the group. Collectively, the group members own nearly 500 avocado trees, with some members having as few as 5 trees. Individually, they felt incapable of negotiating for better prices from middlemen who took advantage of their situation. Their challenges, Musii explained, emanate from lack of market information, inability to afford appropriate inputs and poor understanding of agronomic practices that could help them improve avocado yields and fetch better prices for them.

The meeting was part of an outreach programme organized by Kenya Export Promotion and Brand Kenya Agency (KEPROBA), a government parastatal, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This activity is part of UNDP’s programme and policy offer to help governments and citizens recover from the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and sustain progress towards UN Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals.

In June 2020, UNDP created an innovative funding vehicle, called Rapid Financing Facility (RFF), to address COVID-19 concerns focusing on four main areas: governance and agency, social protection, green economy, and digital disruption. UNDP in Kenya is implementing the project, Green Economy Youth Activation Programme (GrEYAP) with funding from the RFF. The goal of the project is to harness the engagement of youth in the green economy agenda in line with the country’s Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) and build capacity of youth-led businesses and entrepreneurship models in the forestry sector while leveraging on digital technology.

Specifically, the partnership between UNDP and KEPROBA aims to develop the capacity of women and youth as well as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) engaged in avocado, Macadamia, Cashew nut value chains to access export markets.

“We used to grow coffee. But due to low prices and poor management of coffee payments, we are now uprooting our coffee bushes and replacing them with avocado,” Musii explains.

Patrick Ndungu, the director of Origen Group Ltd., a company which exports semi-processed avocado oil to Europe, says that the greatest challenge with smallholder producers is their inability to generate enough produce that would guarantee returns for investors.

“We would like to set up collection centres and buy directly from farmers, but the greatest challenge is the seasonality of the harvest, which means that our centres would lie idle between October and April. For now, however, we just have to rely on aggregators. We would like to diversify to other oils as well as such as macadamia oil.”

Insufficient production is not unique to the avocado value chain. The challenge is even more compounded in the macadamia and cashew nuts sub-sectors, where theft of the fruits forces farmers to harvest immature nuts thereby compromising quality.

UNDP global experience in implementing supplier development programmes has evolved with the realisation of the complexity and broad-based nature of constraints by farmers, companies and organizations working in agro-based value chains. Through this experience, UNDP has developed an inclusive business support system methodology referred to Ecosystem Development Approach that emphasises mutually reinforcing actions and integrated solutions among diverse players with positive impact for people and planet.

Through GrEYAP programme, UNDP in Kenya seeks to advance gains from implementation of the supplier development programme in the country in the past. The project will involve more smallholder farmers into their supply chains through efficient farm-producers’ systems, investing in the required technology and certification, investing in crop handling and field trainings for sustainable farming practices.

“We need to narrow the gap between firms in the EPZ zone and farmers,” says William Otieno, the director of Industrialisation and Innovation at Machakos County government. His trade and enterprise development counterpart, Ms. Jullian Nzive agrees that without primary production, the promotion of export trade is futile.

Formulation and enforcement of rules regulations and guidelines in the sub sector is the role of government. The new Crops (Nuts and Oil Crops) Regulations 2019 assigns the responsibility of registering smallholder producers to the county governments, while the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) controls the registration of plantation growers, commercial nursery operators, traders, marketing agents, wholesalers, and distributors.

“I always try to keep off from county governments. I am not sure who to deal with and I find their processes extremely complex,” Patrick Ndungu told us.

“Why should it be so difficult to download and print out regulations and standards for sunflower, for instance?” James Kariuki, the proprietor of Jamesoil EPZ Ltd. asked us when we visited his plant in the EPZ in Athi River.

The realization of the interconnectedness and complexity of the nuts and oils ecosystem calls for a more ecosystem’s development approach to our interventions. Part of the UNDP-KEPROBA collaboration entails support towards recruitment and on-boarding of sellers onto an e-portal that KEPROBA is developing. The content to be uploaded will include video, multimedia, and text in a form that will be beneficial to buyers, sellers, trade support organizations, Business Member Organizations, researchers, enablers, regulators, and the public.

Through GrEYAP, UNDP is exploring multiple partnerships. With Farm Forestry Smallholder Producer Associations of Kenya (FF-SPAK), UNDP is supporting tree growers’ associations and cooperatives with technical and managerial capacity to operate enterprises that address the production gaps along macadamia, cashew nuts and avocado value chains. UNDP is also seeking an IT company to design and prototyped an industry-driven digital information system that can support production, distribution, and marketing information and promote collaborative engagement in macadamia and cashew nuts value chains. The ICT-Based platform will draw on partnerships with the Horticultural Crops Directorate, Kenya Forestry Services, Kenya Forestry Research Institute, County governments, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS), Smallholder Producers Associations of Kenya (FF-SPAK), Nut Processors Association of Kenya (NutPAK) among others. Collectively, perhaps, these interventions could help address the question that Mr. Musii asked us during the meeting with his group.

By Julius Coredo