10,000 tonnes of green beans in cans and glass jars – this is how much the Kenyan company Meru Greens Horticulture produces annually in its new canning facility.

Founded in 1996, the company mainly grows fruit for the local market and green beans for export to the European Union. Meru Greens Horticulture itself operates two plantations and also cooperates with around 10,000 smallholders in fruit and vegetable production. The processing of green beans was previously outsourced to service providers. As the demand from the EU continues to rise, Meru Greens Horticulture has now set up the company’s own canning facility. As a result, the company is able to guarantee continuous production and consistently good quality. Production has now been successfully launched. DEG is co-financing the project from the Up-Scaling Programme.

Expanding cooperation with smallholders

At the same time Meru Greens Horticulture is expanding its cooperation with smallholders in the production of green beans from 1,500 to 12,000 contract farmers. Once again, DEG is supporting the company – with funds from its Business Support Services. Cooperation with Meru Greens Horticulture means a secure source of income for the smallholders. The company is additionally supporting farmers during harvesting. Furthermore, Meru Greens Horticulture is planning to introduce an IT-based system of accounting, production monitoring, input pre-financing and payment via mobile banking, which will facilitate direct and individual communication with every smallholder. This will make it possible, for instance, to send weather forecasts to smallholders by SMS and coordinate training courses and production processes.