agriBORA – CIAT
About
The agriBORA – CIAT partnership is introducing a Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) that will allow farmers in climate vulnerable regions in Kenya to store their produce in climate-controlled warehouses and sell them at favorable market prices. The WRS, dubbed agriGHALA, will provide beneficial services to farmers like financial inclusion, access to high- quality agricultural inputs, training on climate smart practices, and market linkages. By optimizing crop production, the WRS will decrease post-harvest loss, strengthen income stability and reduce carbon emissions.
Investing in Impact
P4G has awarded the partnership with about US $306,000 in grant funding.
Smallholder farmers in Kenya experience up to 40% post-harvest loss in addition to challenges with accessing finance and high-quality inputs. Without access to affordable climate-controlled storage, farmers often store their produce in their homes exposing their produce to spoilage and pests. This also forces farmers into selling their produce immediately after harvesting at lower prices, exposing them to the risk of potential income loss due to unfavorable market conditions.
agriBORA is an early stage Kenyan company offering an end-to-end ecosystem that gives farmers access to climate-smart inputs, climate-controlled warehouses, finance and market connections through a network of local hubs. Its network of agriHUBS provides farmers with climate-resilient seeds, bio-fertilizers and sustainable advisory services, functioning as reliable one-stop marketplaces that connect farmers with quality inputs and fair market access. agriBORA’s digital platform integrates independent agriHUBs with digital tools like:
- agriKOPA – a credit recommendation solution allowing farmers to access loans for agricultural inputs
- agriPOS – a digital point-of-sale system for easy inventory management and tracking
- agriGHALA – a Warehouse Receipt System that allows farmers to store their crops in climate-controlled warehouses and use their stored produce as collateral for loans through agriKOPA
By digitizing their business, agriBORA allows agriHUBS to manage and track their inventory and understand their financing options easily. agriBORA now has a network of 270 agriHUBs across 12 Kenyan countries that reach more than 110,000 farmers. In 2022, the agri fintech startup won the African Earth Observation Challenge and was recognized by Agriculture 100 as a top agriculture technology provider.
The startup’s three primary customer segments are agriHUBs who sell inventory to smallholder famrers, agriprocessors who require steady and high-quality harvested crops and can source directly from agriHUBs’ farmers; and financial service providers who get connected to farmers through agriBORA.
The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) is an agricultural research arm of CGIAR. The organization will support agriBORA with monitoring and evaluation, survey populations for prioritizing climate-smart agriculture interventions, and evaluate the impact of these interventions.
During the partnership period, agriBORA will run two fully operational warehouses for farmers in its target counties. The startup also aims to implement a subscriber-service for farmers to receive price updates and reach 10,000 farmers. Another goal is to have at least 5,000 smallholder farmers leverage the Warehouse Receipt System as collateral for credit. agriBORA aims to raise about US $4.5 million, create about 2,000 jobs, and positively affect 500,000 individuals.
The partnership comprises the following partners: agriBORA (lead business partner); CIAT (lead administrative partner).
Partners
