Fresh produce stakeholders from Meru County on Wednesday underwent a training aimed at taming post-harvest losses which eventually eat into their profit margins.
The event which took place at Kaguru Agricultural Training Centre was spearheaded by Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya in collaboration with ABSa Bank, Eco-Business facility and the Moving frontiers.
Speaking to KNA, Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya Chief Executive Officer Mr Ojepat Okisegere said the training was meant to cushion farmers from the losses by imparting knowledge on methods that can manage the post-harvest losses.
He said statistics indicate that Kenya loses between 40 to 60 per cent of fresh produce especially vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices through post-harvest losses which happens because most of the growers, aggregators and value chain actors do not understand how to manage the losses.
“It is for this reason that we are out to conduct capacity building to the farmers since every post-harvest loss to a farmer is actually a loss for him in terms of business,” said Mr Okisegere.
He noted that the fruits are the most affected in terms of losses and congratulated ABSA Bank and other partners for being on board to provide facilities required by farmers in terms of technology.
“We are glad to have the partners and we are calling upon other partners as well as the county governments, even as we hear that they are putting up aggregation centres, we would like to have a deliberate partnership that allows us to be able to tap into the strengths of each of the partner when it comes to post-harvest losses management,” said Mr Okisegere.
He said post-harvest loss was a major subject globally and that the world was losing approximately 40 percent that could feed more than a billion people if the food was taken care of.
Okisegere noted that the current trainings which have also taken place in Nakuru, Kirinyaga and Embu were pilot projects and they were looking forward to scaling it to other parts of the country particularly the active areas in terms of vegetables and fruits farming.
Meru Branch ABSA bank manager Mr Kevin Moroche noted that Meru was economically rich in terms of agriculture and that many people have been employed in the various value additon chains.
He said statistics indicate that 40 percent of the produce were being lost after harvesting which means that if a farmer was earning ten shillings, four shillings were going to waste and in effect the profit margin of the farmer was being wiped away.
“As a bank we are excited to be part of the partnership which will eventually elevate the earnings of our farmers,” said Mr Moroche.
Retired Major Gideon Gitonga, an avocado farmer, said the training was an eye-opener and they are now aware of the produce they were losing for ignoring little things like proper handling, and transporting them to the market.
“It is an opportune time the training has taken place and we now know how we can mitigate those areas where we have been losing our money through post-harvest losses,” said Mr Gitonga.
Ms Dinah Kagwiria Anampiu, an agro-dealer and a banana farmer expressed her gratitude for being invited to the training adding that she will implement what she had learnt to the letter in order to maximise her profits.
She said she will also become an ambassador to the trainers by way of spreading the gospel to other farmers who did not have a chance to be trained.
By Dickson Mwiti
