Baraka J. Chijenga

Kilimo Fresh is a Tanzania-based B2B produce distribution platform that connects smallholder farmers and produces buyers to a fair and reliable market. In the past, farmers would have to wait for quite some time before a buyer showed up to buy their produce. Eventually, they’d end up selling to middlemen who paid them low margins, affecting their growth and contributing to a lot of food waste (40%). Kilimo Fresh enables buyers to access better quality and fresh produce directly from the farms at affordable prices delivered to their locations, hence our slogan, ’’Fresh Produce At Your Doorstep’’. The solution gives consumers a simple online ordering platform to purchase their daily needs of fresh produce, provides farmers with stable pricing and direct access to the market for their crops, and eliminates food waste between farm and fork using cold chain technology. The company generates 35% profit margins from produce sold. Kilimo Fresh is currently working with B2C customers and more than 25 B2B customers based in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, ranging from hotels, restaurants, catering companies, retail stores, schools and informal vendors. The company has been working with more than 300 farmers for the past 2 years, where we’ve seen their income grow from $350 to $1,550, their production increased by 4 times while food waste dropped by 80%. The company began with 10 farmers, and currently it’s working with more than 300 farmers, where 30% are women farmers.