Case Study: Vietnam

GrowPact Limited is based in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia county and propagates and supplies high-quality seedlings to farmers across Kenya. The business plans to increase its farmer base from the current 5,500 farmers to 10,000 farmers in the next 2 years. It aims to build a business model that enhances inclusivity and profitability both at the farm and business level through:

1. Increasing the productivity, profitability and resilience of horticulture farmers through provision of high-quality seedlings and agronomic trainings.
2. Creating market linkages for its farmer base to reduce post-harvest losses.

In our case study report, you will find our analyses covering the following:

• The model presents a positive business and impact case although there is need for piloting and testing of some services.
• While growing media presents positive earning potential for greenhouse tomato farmers, the business case is still unproven. Piloting and testing collaboratively with a few farmers is recommended before roll-out.
• Despite the proven effectiveness of farmer trainings in enhancing farm management skills and ultimately boosting yields, GrowPact has refrained from offering robust farmer training services in the past. This is primarily due to farmers inability and/or unwillingness to pay upfront for such services coupled with the lack of a closed loop system that would allow GrowPact to indirectly recover training costs through margins from farmer produce. A piloting and testing of different models of recouping farmer trainings costs is advised.
• With the full package of service provision, farmers produce a total of 26k tons of tomatoes and 15k heads of cabbages creating a great opportunity for collaboration with off-takers.