eBusiness Weekly
Michael Tome
CAIRNS Foods Limited says it has recorded substantial wins in its import substitution drive after it embarked on a number of contract farming engagements with local farmers in different parts of the country.
The company highlighted that it was now able to meet nearly 100 percent of its potato supplies from local producers, while efforts are underway to ramp up local production of Michigan pea beans popularly used in the making of canned beans.
Cairns has been funding the production of some of the raw materials through the company’s own resources while some farmers are directly funded by willing financial institutions.
The diversified food manufacturer has been on a growth trajectory since coming out of judicial management in 2015, with notable strides having been recorded in the resuscitation of many production areas.
Its reputable brands like Cashel Valley and Sun Jam have been relaunched, while new product lines are in the offing.
At some point just after exiting judicial management, Cairns managed to partner with Agritex and the Department of Irrigation — which fall under the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries Water, and Rural Development Ministry — and micro-finance institutions to develop a pea bean contract farming model.
Cairns Foods Limited’s chief operating officer, Karen Jiri, said agro processors success begins at the start of the value chain all the way to the end consumer hence serious engagement is needed for local primary producers.
She said Cairns had involved offtake agreements with farmers from which they have been able to access financing.
“In 2016 Cairns was importing most of its agro-based raw materials, but a few years later now we almost have 100 percent local potatoes that go into the production of Spuds and Chompkins.
“ . . . a couple of years ago a lot of Michigan pea beans was being imported from as far as Ethiopia now we have started to develop local production mechanisms.
“We have moved from about 68 contract farmers or two irrigation schemes three years ago now we have 11 irrigation schemes and have got sufficient capacity as needed in the country to supply our local requirements and it just takes collective efforts for us to unlock such opportunities,” said Jiri at the recently held Agri-Business Forum convened by the Business Weekly in Harare.
The company has a ‘buy local’ policy unless the product is not available locally, or where local suppliers cannot meet the specifications, or when there is a huge price differential.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) chief executive officer, Sekai Kuvarika, indicated that there are a lot of opportunities in terms of business linkages between primary producers and agro-processors.
“On the product development side, manufacturers might end up looking for agriculture raw materials somewhere else because we are not capitalising on potential links we have. There are huge gaps, you find that we produce a lot of onions in Zimbabwe but we also import a lot of onion powder.
“So there is quite a few other products that we are still importing, but being cultivated here, we are importing the semi-processed products some of it down to varieties we are growing,” said Kuvarika.
Besides pea beans, Cairns is also involved in the production and procurement of groundnuts, sugar beans and millet from farmers.
