Wilmar Agro Ltd. concept feeds 3000 families in Kenya

Wilmar Agro Ltd. concept feeds 3000 families in Kenya
-the perfect example of successful export coaching-

On the basis of expected market opportunities, in 2000 the CBI started a new Export Coaching Programme on cut flowers for selected East and Southern African countries. Mr. Wilfred Muiruri Kamami was one of the first participants in the CBI export management training that focused on marketing management and post-harvest management for operational marketing and export managers. In 2001 he attended a five days training in Holland to learn about marketing and export together with three colleagues. One of the CBI experts, Mr. Jeroen van der Hulst, followed Mr. Kamami in the last year of the seven-year-programme.

Original concept – not planned but just happened in cause of time
In October 1995 Kamami exported the first flowers from his own nursery to Europe. A big adventure that took a lot of courage from a small Kenyan grower. A year later the company was reorganised and the first steps were made to an ‘outgrower system’. Twenty growers brought their flowers to Wilmar Agro Ltd. There the flowers were controlled, graded, bunched and exported to the flower auctions in the Netherlands. A cooperative thought that was new for Kenya, now developed to a big success.

In 2007 already 3000 growers participate and grow flowers as e.g. Asclepia Moby Dick, Ornithogalum saundersiae, Ornithogalum thyrsoides, Papyrus, Crocosmia, Statice, Erynchium and Molucella. The individual grower sells his flowers to Wilmar Agro and receives his money within seven days. Wilmar Agro helps the growers with knowledge and supplies good basic material such as seeds or bulbs.

The large amount of growers is organised in product groups. Each group grows one specific product and contains the supplies of 15 to 30 growers. These growers get to know each other which guarantees a good organised structure.  In the early days they grew some tea or coffee alongside their own food products. Now they get more profit from the flowers and are able to send their children to school and buy clothing. So many families share in the selling concept of Wilmar Agro Ltd. Once or twice a week the flowers are collected at the collecting points that are set up close to the growers. Seven trucks drive distances of up to 250 kilometres to the different collecting points.

Meanwhile there are two companies dealing with al the flowers that are collected from the growers. Wilmar Agro Ltd. made its missions statement ‘Hope through flowers’, the newer company Nature Grown Ltd. operates with the mission statement ‘Livelihood through flowers’. Both statements show that the concept works for many families.

Policy meetings
Since his first visit Mr. Kamami now visits the Netherlands every year to talk to people at the auctions, buyers and breeders. The knowledge that he gathers is shared with the growers.

Every three months he meets with each individual group to talk about his vision and expectations of the market in the near and far future and about problems that might exist. Together they make plans for the future. At the CBI training he learned to talk about weaknesses and is challenged to turn them into strengths. “This is very important in the whole concept. Together with communication!”, says Kamami. “Not only top down communication but also the other way around. This way we stay in close contact with the farms in Kenya and the market in Europe”.

Quality in the cool chain
During the training, but more over years, growers in Kenya got more aware of the consequences of temperature changes during transport. Van der Hulst, CBI expert for cool chain management, has seen many changes in the cool chain approach of Wilmar. “The first time I saw the flowers of Wilmar at the auction in Aalsmeer I could not believe that they were grown by different growers on different locations. They all looked the same as if they were produced at one nursery.”, mentioned Van der Hulst. “But there was still a lot to improve in the cool chain, which can lead to a couple of cents per stem more at the auction. With 9 million stems delivered on a yearly basis this generates a lot more money!”
Kamami: “With the help of the CBI we are now aware of the bottle necks in the cool chain. What we can improve we will, but sometimes things happen on the way from Nairobi to Europe that we cannot explain!”. “That is exactly the problem”, says Van der Hulst, “the grower is the owner of the flower until it is sold in Europe. But the quality during transport is in the hands of the transporters and they are not always reliable in that respect. The problem is that they don’t loose money when the quality of the flowers is less upon arrival!”

In Kenya a lot of staff is now very involved in cool chain management. Even the truck drivers now check the temperature of the truck when they load and unload the flowers. Everything is registered so when needed the information is still available. When the flowers arrive in a better condition at the auction each individual grower will receive the revenue of that. The price they get for their flowers is related to the auction price.
“That is very important”, mentions Kamami, “this way they know e.g. that July and August are not very good months for the price. But they also have the benefit of extremely good prices that we had this year in these months due to bad weather in Holland”.

Business
Since January this year, Wilmar is now an official member of the Aalsmeer Auction. Signing the contract the auction realised they all at once had 1800 growers extra as a member. Kamami had a few good business reasons to become a member; “lower commission, which means more money for the growers in Kenya, the availability of more information on the market situation and the ability to ‘vote as a member’.” The last reason he mentioned with a big laugh. Just this year the two biggest flower auctions in Holland, Aalsmeer and FloraHolland, decided to merge. This was big news in the horticultural world. Of course the members of both companies had to agree with the merger by voting.