Today, we provide an insight into our field team, which serves as the link between LIMBUA and more than 9,000 contract smallholder farmers.
Training for cultivation and harvesting
Macadamia cultivation has a long tradition in Kenya. The LIMBUA field team includes local organic agronomists who provide training and support smallholder farmers in areas such as cultivation, harvesting, hygiene measures, organic certification and quality assurance:
-
Selecting suitable locations and planting trees correctly
-
Training on organic farming requirements and assessing crop maturity
-
Guidance on short-term storage at the farm and protecting harvested products from moisture, contamination and other factors that may affect quality
This practical support helps smallholder farmers implement the applicable organic and quality requirements.
Lucy Mumbi trains LIMBUA contract smallholder farmers
A team with different responsibilities
The field team currently consists of more than 50 employees with different areas of responsibility. These include managers, supervisors, agronomists and members of the harvesting and purchasing teams.
The managers coordinate activities in the growing regions and organise the tasks of the individual teams. Their responsibilities include planning training sessions and farm inspections as well as coordinating harvesting and purchasing activities.
LIMBUA field team employee and smallholder farmer preparing a growing area
Many team members are qualified agronomists. Each agronomist supports a group of contract smallholder farmers within a defined region and provides guidance on the practical management of their farms. They also document farming processes and help farmers prepare for internal and external inspections.
The field team also supports harvesting and coordinates with the purchasing teams to determine when and where the harvested products will be collected. Smallholder farmers receive guidance on organic farming requirements as well as organisational and agricultural processes on their farms.
The LIMBUA harvesting team supports the avocado harvest
Documented processes and traceability
Field Team Officer Daniel Muriithi
Direct cooperation with contract smallholder farmers
Through this direct cooperation, contract smallholder farmers can sell their certified harvests to LIMBUA without additional intermediaries. The field and purchasing teams coordinate harvest planning, product collection and the digital documentation of each purchase.
In this way, LIMBUA connects organic cultivation on mixed farms with the processing and export of the products. Regular support from the field team helps participating smallholder farmers implement the applicable certification and quality requirements.
