Selection Kenya
Delish & Nutri ltd.
Delish and Nutri Ltd. is an innovative food company from Kenya that sells various peanut based products and sources its raw materials from small scale farmers. Kenya has a huge demand for peanuts and is importing over 80% of the peanuts consumed in industrial and urban areas. According to estimations, peanuts exported to East Africa, mainly Kenya, are worth more than US$100 million annually. Through “The Wezesha Mavijanaa na Karanga Yetu” – project, Delish & Nutri aims to produce Kenyan peanuts for wholesale distribution, as well as for its manufactured products, while providing young men and women opportunities for decent work.
The Problem
Similarly to majority of peanuts in Kenya, the peanuts that Delish & Nutri ltd uses for their production were imported from Malawi. However, due to Covid-19, the peanut importation suffered from many disruptions in the supply chain and prices increased.
At the same time, according to a scoping study by CFYE, youth unemployment in Kenya is estimated to be as high as 35%, which amounts to 4,5 million young men and women. Although many young Kenyans are interested in work in agricultural sector, their engagement is driven by how easy it is to monetise their farming activities to earn a living. Because of this, young farmers in Kenya are interested in farming crops with higher monetary value.
Many also aspire working under contracts as this creates an easier access to markets and provides job security. Currently most young farmers work on their parents’ land as they cannot afford their own. However, the older generation tends to be more conservative in trying new crops for farming and rely on low mechanisation which can make farming laborious. For the same reason young people are also shying away from peanut farming, as peanut shelling is done by hand, making it a lengthy process.
The Solution
Through the Wezesha Mavijanaa na Karanga Yetu project, Delish & Nutri ltd aims to create youth employment in key rural areas while increasing the local peanut production. The purpose of the project is to match young farmers employment aspirations by offering them a new way of peanut farming. The peanuts farmed are called “Karanga Yetu”, which means our own peanuts and are farmed in Kenya.
The objective is to provide 900 youth farmers and 200 product traders with decent employment. The farming will be organised in three hubs, which are located in rural peanut growing areas, thus providing employment for the local youth. The Hubs will help with transportation of peanuts to the markets, as well as a place for farmers to share knowledge an receive guidance from each other and professional agronomists. Farmers and traders will also receive training for their positions. The company will also employ 21 additional staff across key departments, such as marketing, sales, and finance, thus further increasing youth employment opportunities.
Peanuts are a product of high monetary value and can thus produce a decent income for the youth farmers. They also take only 3-4 months to mature, which makes it easy to lease lands under contracts for a shorter period for youth who do not have access to their own land. As many young people find peanut farming too laborious due to the shelling process, the project has developed a sheller for the hubs that can shell much more peanuts per day than by hand.
Additionality
The CFYE grant and technical assistance will enable D&N to expand and solidify the already piloted sourcing model to include at least 1,121 new youth employment opportunities. The CFYE grant will provide agronomic support, training and recruitment, as well as the acquisition of shellers to mechanise the peanut production.
