Dutch support to Rwandan companies that produce nutritious foods
Last month, on March 17th,2019 , a Food security and Nutrition mission from The Netherlands visited Rwandan companies that have received support from GAIN’s Market Place for Nutritious Foods.The GAIN-project is supported by the Government of the Netherlands.
GAIN’s Marketplace for Nutritious Foods offers networking opportunities, technical support, and/or access to financial grants and investment to local companies looking to turn their innovative and nutrition-enhancing concepts into sustainable products. The ultimate goal of the Marketplace is to create local markets full of diverse, nutritious, and affordable foods for the people of Rwanda.
Farmfresh Food Company Limited
Farmfresh is one of the six innovative businesses supported by GAIN’s Marketplace for Nutritious Foods, with technical assistance and market analysis.
Farm fresh, famous for its nutritious quality “High iron Beans”, is a processing food plant dedicated to producing and providing East African countries with high quality, iron-rich pre-cooked and ready to eat beans. The company started its operations in Rwanda in 2015. The company currently hires 11 employees of which 45% are women.
Products
FarmFresh currently processes two types of beans: “High Iron beans” made from biofortified beans and “Mixed beans” made from Rwandan common beans. They are all made up of natural and high quality ingredients sourced from smallholder farmers from Rwanda. After being collected , they are cleaned, packed and cooked inside the autoclave. The cooking process only take one hour.
Products market and prices
The company‘s biggest customers includes schools , where they supply 12T of mixed beans per month. Local supermarkets and the army shop are also among their customers. One pack of 700grs (any quality) is sold at 400Frw for schools whereas in supermarkets, the same quantity of mixed beans is sold at 1200 Rwf and at 1500 RWF for high iron beans. The company is now targeting to supply its products to refugees under UNHCR, to help them dealing with various health conditions such as Anaemia.
The company does not face any competition on the local market and is gaining - market in Kenya, Tanzania and selected European markets for African diaspora.
Challenges
Changing people’s perception of preferring the six hours cooked bean to the precooked beans, has been one of their main challenge . Not only the precooked beans save time but also they reduce the cost of fuel (wood).For example, the cost goes from 5 to 15% cheaper for schools in comparison with wood usage as mentioned by FarmFresh Managing Director.