eBusiness Weekly
Michael Tome
HARARE – Cairns Foods will spend more than $15 million to purchase raw materials from farmers contracted to produce white pea beans
Cairns’ fortunes are on the rebound following an injection of fresh capital from Takura Capital.
White pea beans are used in the manufacture of Cashel Valley baked beans.
Cairns partnered Agritex and the department of irrigation — which fall under the Agriculture Ministry — and micro-finance institution Inclusive Financial Services to develop a white pea bean contract farming model for the upcoming season and another model for 2019 summer cropping season is already underway.
Through the scheme, 10 000 farmers, 9500 of them smallholders, were supplied with seed, fertiliser and other inputs.
Through emailed responses, Cairns said the company is targeting to invest in 12 different crops and fruits in 2018/2019 summer cropping season.
“We have contracted both small holder and commercial farmers across all the provinces in the country.
“The type of farmers contracted depend on the crops or fruits. Some crops are suited for large scale commercial production, whilst others are best produced by small holder farmers, which are the majority.
“Now, funding is from the company’s own resources, as well as from financial institutions willing to fund our farmers directly,” said Cairns.
This year, Cairns is buying beans the company gave inputs to the farmers and this is meant to ensure that local farmers are capacitated on a sustainable basis thereby fighting poverty, improve food security and help create employment both at factory and farm levels.
The company has a ‘buy local’ policy unless the product is not available locally, the local suppliers cannot meet the specifications or when there is huge price differential.
Smallholders eligible for the scheme included those that had a proven production track record, potential to fund their own inputs and labour, those that qualified for an input loan from any microfinance institution, and those with capacity to irrigate at least 0,25ha of land.
Commercial farmers were contracted for areas between one hectare and 30ha.
Crop deliveries are expected in July up to the end of October.
In the next farming season, the area put under pea bean production is set to expand.
For its Mutare plant, Cairns buys 40 percent of its pea beans from local farmers and imports the remainder.
Besides pea beans, Cairns is also buying groundnuts, sugar beans and millet from farmers. Some farmers have also been contracted to grow potatoes.
Cairns has been on a growth trajectory since coming out of judicial management nine months ago and has since acquired new machinery for the Harare and Mutare plants.
Its reputable brands Cashel Valley and Sun Jam have been relaunched, while new product lines are in the offing.
The company considers the grape production as a worthwhile investment that should be able to spur wine production to higher levels and enable the company to satisfy both the local and foreign markets for Mukuyu wines.
