Yarashoo Agro Industry - CARE

Investing in Impact

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. 

Through its brand Aifa Foods, Yarashoo 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 works with over 30 smallholder farmers and provides 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. 

This all-women owned agri startup also aims to create jobs for women and youth around its aggregation, processing and packaging activities. 

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 will also train 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 will also build 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 part of building a robust supply chain, the Yarashoo 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. The team will build a farmer outreach plan based on these visits and train onboarded farmers in good agricultural practices. 

Yarashoo has made progress on its Environmental, Social and Governance document, an important component for investment readiness, which is currently under review by experts. The startup is also strengthening its marketing and sales strategy and developing a more robust competitive and customer analysis. 

Yarashoo 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 also focused on ensuring its processing facility complies with regulatory requirements and will renew its Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority license so it can continue to operate in the market. 

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).