Agriculture is the biggest contributor to Kenya’s economy, but the sector has not been fully exploited partly due to negative perceptions around it. Cibiya Farm Holdings Ltd desires to participate in changing that narrative by commercializing the farm and using modern farming techniques that will boost interest towards the agriculture sector both locally and internationally.
“It is important to positively participate in the call for Kenyan companies and the ‘Mwananchi’ to take centre stage as we move towards “buy Kenya, build Kenya” initiatives. The Agriculture sector is no exception and Cibiya Farms aims to position itself as a leading agri-business enterprise,” said Margaret Osiemo, founder Cibiya Farms.
The enterprise is also dedicated to farming responsibly and mindfully with the aim of providing the best quality products to their customers. They currently have a 200-acre sugarcane farm and recently got another 5-acre organic and pawpaw farm.
Their latest project is an organic banana farm on which they are putting giant Cavendish bananas so as to maximize the use of the farmland. In addition to this, they are also growing pawpaws and are planning to introduce sweet potatoes soon.
In order to ensure quality production of their products, they have invested in a range of farming equipment that ensure an increase in productivity as well as in efficiency of the farm. Margaret adds that they have also opted for the irrigation method which positively impacts the yield of crops.
Currently, they are looking to target agriculture merchants for their bananas given that they mainly purchase produce in large quantities. As for their sugarcane, their main target audience are sugar mills as well as public and private mills.
The market response towards their products has been great. However, the sugarcane market is ailed by the common challenges such as flooding of markets by cheap imported sugar resulting in unfair competition, inflated costs of farm inputs and services and a highly inefficient industry just to mention a few.
Through the Agribiz program which is supported by the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre and funded by the European Union and DANIDA, the agribusiness enterprise has been able to gain a lot of support in regards to business advisory and mentorship.
