Since she opened the first TruTrade collection point in her village a few months ago, sourcing agent Agnes Mutisya says the lives of hundreds of local farmers have been transformed.<\/p>\n
In the remote village of Kamusiliu in Kitui County, a dry and dusty plateau in Eastern Kenya, Agnes\u2019 small shop stands out. A dozen, mainly women farmers, line up at the door to weight and sell their green gram, a staple legume grown in the region. The 42-year-old was trained by TruTrade last year, and subsequently was able to open her collection point in early 2018.<\/p>\n
The social enterprise, a subsidiary of Self Help Africa, provides smallholder farmers with reliable routes to market and fair prices, and manages an extensive network of collection points across rural Kenya where farmers can bring their produce, receive mobile payment and build a trading record. For farmers in Kitui County, selling their crops through TruTrade has revolutionised the way they trade, and has increased incomes and financial security.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy role with TruTrade is to ensure the produce meets our standards, and then process payment to the farmers through our mobile platform,\u201d explains the mother of five. \u201cThe advantage is that farmers get paid on the spot. They also don\u2019t have to carry cash anymore, which can be unsafe for women.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agnes says she\u2019s proud to provide this service to up to 200 small-scale farmers in her area and says that TruTrade provides a much-needed transparency in the value chain:<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the market is kilometres away, farmers used to sell their produce at the farm gate, to brokers who would often offer a very low price. Now the market has come to them,\u201d Agnes explains.<\/p>\n