Yarashoo Agro Industry - CARE

Investing in Impact

P4G has awarded the partnership a grant of US $350,000. 

Agricultural products make up about 80% of Ethiopia’s exports and tend to be unprocessed commodities. Only 1 – 2% of these products have any value additions to them such as drying, processing or canning. In addition, Ethiopia has high rates of post-harvest food loss with fruits and vegetables contributing to 33% of the losses. 

Against this background, Yarashoo Agro Industry, hopes to reduce post-harvest food losses in Ethiopia while also improving the agricultural and economic resilience of farmers. This all-women owned agri startup also aims to create jobs for women and youth around its aggregation, processing and packaging activities. 

Through its brand Aifa Foods, the startup transforms surplus fruits into nutritious, climate-smart dried snacks to reduce post-harvest losses and improve farmer incomes in Ethiopia. In partnership with CARE Denmark, the startup has onboarded 60 farmers and has provided them with tailored support through a centralized Farmer Data Management System that provides yield forecasting and transportation timelines. The partnership also trains farmers in post-harvest handling, promotes regenerative composting, and is introducing decentralized solar drying technologies. 

The dried produce market is a relatively new one in Ethiopia and holds untapped potential to reduce post-harvest losses and improve farmers’ livelihoods by giving them a stable market and income. Along with the support of its partner CARE, the startup is also training farmers on agricultural methods to increase yields that will both boost their incomes and give the startup a high quality, steady supply of fresh produce required to scale. The partnership is building farmers’ capacity to dry and package goods at the farm level to reduce post-harvest losses and command higher prices due to the value addition. As a result of these capacity building efforts, the startup is already seeing a decrease in spoilage and better product quality, especially in the handling of mangoes and bananas. 

As part of building a robust supply chain, the AIFA team visited cooperatives in Afar, Arbaminch and Sidama to assess and onboard farmers. The team visited farmers growing a variety of fruits including bananas, mangoes, apples, plums and pineapples and gained deeper insight into their challenges and needs. AIFA has sourced a little more than 1800 kgs of pineapple, 2200 kgs of mango and 2400 kgs of bananas. 

The startup has also developed and tested a farmer Data Management System (DMS) to improve tracking and traceability. The DMS system is now fully operational and has 40 registered farmers. AIFA has made progress on its Environmental, Social and Governance document, an important component for investment readiness, which is currently under review by experts. It has outlined a dedicated gender integration component with a phased roadmap to achieve ESG throughout the value chain. The startup also strengthened its marketing and sales strategy and developed a more robust competitive and customer analysis. This has resulted in AIFA’s retail footprint growing from 10 outlets to 50, sales agreements with the Hyatt Regency Hotel, and co-branding efforts that are underway with Tomoca, one of Ethiopia’s leading coffee brands. In addition, the startup has started product trials to meet export quality standards and diverse consumer preferences. 

The AIFA team is also working with experts on identifying and achieving industry and global certifications that will expand its global market reach and make its products more attractive to retailers. The startup is focused on ensuring its processing facility complies with regulatory requirements and renewed its Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority license so it can continue to operate in the market. The next step is prioritizing its ISO certification, and the startup is working with a local institution and the Ethiopia Horticulture Exporter Association on the process. 

A key emerging initiative is the partnership’s efforts to convene other food processing startups with the idea of forming a sector-specific association. This would allow the industry to have a united voice when engaging with government and other stakeholders about regulatory intervention to improve the existing enabling environment. 

CARE has strong experience and in-country relationships with ministries and farmer groups in Ethiopia. It will facilitate introductions to the necessary government stakeholders who can help with policy interventions that could improve the enabling market environment for dried fruit companies in Ethiopia and the ease of doing business globally. It will also develop a case study that will share learning related to the sector and journey of the Yarashoo to becoming investment-ready. 

During the partnership period, Yarashoo aims to raise US $110,000 in investment. It hopes to increase the amount of food supplied to the startup from 2,000 metric tons to 15,000 metric tons and reduce post-harvest losses by 50%, within the farmers that it works with. Yarashoo also aims to increase the disposable incomes of at least 60% of the farmers that it works with by US $1,000 annually. 

The partnership comprises the following partners: Yarashoo Agro Industry (lead business partner); CARE (lead administrative partner).