Twiga Foods have launched a Ksh.1.16 billion investment plan dubbed ‘Twiga Fresh’ to help supply informal retailers and urban consumers with lower cost, better quality and safe food.
The new subsidiary, focused on modern and commercial farming, is aimed at scaling the efficient production of domestic horticultural staples such as onions, tomatoes and watermelons.
Twiga Chief Executive and Co-Founder Peter Njonjo said the company will continue to work with smallholder farmers in addressing the challenge of food security.
“We will continue to run the B2B e-commerce business under Twiga, focused on building a one-stop supply chain solution for informal retailers, delivering both Twiga and non-Twiga owned products. Twiga Fresh, in addition to our growing range of private label products, will ensure we drive growth in customer numbers and broaden the basket size by offering quality produce at a discount against prevailing market prices,” said Njonjo.
For the last few months the retail business and consumers have experienced difficulties as disposable income has taken a beating from both the COVID-19 and the increasing commodity inflation caused by the war in Ukraine.
This has forced Kenyans to decry the high cost of living as the food prices have gone up impacting pressure into their pockets.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Economic Survey 2022 released late April, inflation rose to a four-year high of 6.1 percent up from 5.4 percent the previous year.
This was the highest cost of living recorded in the country since 2017 when it hit eight percent.
The increase is mainly attributed to increase in the prices of fuel and food items.
To launch the Twiga Fresh line of products, the company shall sample one million Kilograms of fresh produce to customers under their 21-day promotion christened “Bidhaa Freshi na Safi” that commences on May 23, 2022.
The company also stated that there is limited investment in revolutionizing the productivity and modernization of food production in Africa, leading to a significant growth in the importation of basic food, making food security an increasingly elusive goal.
Twiga Fresh in the long term will be funded through debt in partnership with Development Financial Institutions, focused on primary agriculture and food security.
