State Secretary Dr. Bärbel Kofler (BMZ) visits LIMBUA

Female power and an example of successful German-Kenyan cooperation.

The Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Dr. Bärbel Kofler, visited our company in Kenya together with representatives of the BMZ, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

In her role, Dr. Kofler is committed to international cooperation. Her areas of focus include human rights, economic development and gender equality.

BMZ meets LIMBUA in Kenya

^{F.l.t.r.: Sheillah Karimi (KfW), Birgit Pickel (BMZ), Oskar von Maltzan (KfW), Matti Spiecker (LIMBUA Founder), Janine Barbier-Neubacher (BMZ), Peter Wangara (LIMBUA Founder), Daniel Guenther (German Embassy, Nairobi), Dr. Bärbel Kofler (BMZ), Abigael Birech, Michael Langat, Petra Jacobi (GIZ), Ruth Imbahale, Boniface Mutua, Kenneth Waweru}

Development approach and best practices

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is a central institution of German development cooperation. Its aim is to improve people’s living conditions. The BMZ provides financial resources, supports projects on the ground and works with international partners. LIMBUA received financing through DEG for investments in smallholder-based organic agriculture and local processing in Kenya.

The visitors were shown best practices to demonstrate what successful German-Kenyan cooperation can look like:

Renewable energy: The shells of the macadamia nuts are used to generate electricity and heat. Macadamia shells are used to generate electricity in a combined heat and power plant and process heat for the drying facilities.
Job creation: LIMBUA creates jobs at its production sites and in the agricultural regions around Mount Kenya. This provides employment opportunities in rural areas.
Organic agriculture: LIMBUA has worked with certified organic agriculture and defined requirements for agricultural operations since its foundation.
Modern technology: German technologies are used at LIMBUA’s sites for processing, drying and the generation of electricity and heat.
Products for international markets: The organic products processed in Kenya are sold internationally in the food and cosmetics sectors.

Macadamia shell combustion

^{Macadamia shells are used to generate electricity and process heat}

Empowerment of women: a central aspect of Dr. Bärbel Kofler’s work at BMZ

Through her work at the BMZ, the State Secretary plays a key role in supporting women. Dr. Bärbel Kofler’s work and political initiatives aim to improve the living conditions of women worldwide and strengthen their economic, social and political participation. She works to ensure that women’s rights are firmly anchored in the international development agenda. This includes supporting programs and projects that focus specifically on women.

^{Strong women: There are many female smallholders like Niceta Muriithi (left) who are responsible for managing their farms}

During her visit, Bärbel Kofler had the opportunity to meet the LIMBUA management team. It became clear that, as a social enterprise, we aim for a high proportion of women and young people among our employees, including at management level.
These groups face many challenges in rural Kenya, particularly limited employment opportunities.

We implement various measures to support women in rural Kenya:

Employment of women: Over the years, we have created numerous jobs in the production and processing of organic produce in rural Kenya. A large proportion of these jobs are allocated to women, from production employees and field teams to management. This provides them with their own income and employment opportunities in rural areas.

Representation in management: Women are strongly represented at management level and in important decision-making processes. Their participation in management and decision-making brings different perspectives into the company’s leadership.

Education and training: LIMBUA organizes regular training sessions and workshops for both smallholder farmers and employees. These cover methods of organic agriculture and business management skills. Through these educational opportunities, women can expand their skills and apply their knowledge when managing their farms.

Access to markets: Through their integration into the LIMBUA value chain, participating farmers can sell their certified produce directly to LIMBUA. The harvests are weighed and digitally recorded on site, and payment is made directly by mobile phone.

A visit along the value chain

The best way to introduce guests to the LIMBUA concept is to make it tangible. Rather than only providing information, it is important to us to give visitors in Kenya a first-hand experience of the various processes and people behind the individual steps, from the tree to the finished product.

Dr. Kofler and her companions were therefore able to experience the LIMBUA value chain from the beginning:

1. It starts with the trees

The tour began with a visit to the LIMBUA tree nursery. Seedlings for cultivation on smallholder mixed farms are raised there. LIMBUA also offers training in organic farming methods and tree care.

Dr. Kofler and her companions learned about the cultivation of seedlings and then planted a young macadamia tree in keeping with LIMBUA tradition. We would be pleased to welcome them again and show them how the tree has grown.

^{Visit to the LIMBUA tree nursery}

2. Meeting smallholder farmer Niceta Muthoni Muriithi

Smallholder farmers are at the heart of LIMBUA: We source fresh organic macadamia, avocado and mango harvests directly from them. Our visitors were therefore eager to visit one of the smallholder families and gain an impression of life on an organic farm.

An organic mixed farm is very different from large-scale agricultural operations, such as those found in Europe, both in terms of cultivation methods and farm management. In Kenya, individual smallholders without a large workforce often manage all aspects of their farms themselves.

Niceta is one of them: She has been a LIMBUA contract farmer since 2017 and manages her mixed farm with a wide variety of organic crops as well as four dairy cows, which are among her family’s agricultural sources of income.

^{Organic sugar cane from the farm for the visitors}

Profile of Niceta Muthoni Muriithi:

She has worked with LIMBUA since 2017
Married, with three adult children
One son is studying medicine at Mount Kenya University
According to Niceta, she uses her agricultural income to pay school fees and regularly purchase an additional young cow, among other things
Her organic mixed farm covers approximately 2 acres
She grows organic macadamia, avocado, mango, potatoes, pumpkins, sugar cane and other crops

The welcome was warm and joyful on both sides. The visitors were shown around the farm and introduced to common processes, such as removing the green outer husks of macadamia nuts before they are collected by the purchasing teams. The green husks remain on the farm and are used as organic compost material.

^{A different world: an organic mixed farm in the Kenyan highlands has little in common with large-scale agriculture in Germany}

3. The organic mixed farm – living diversity

Niceta Muriithi’s farm impressed the guests with its extraordinary diversity. A wide variety of plants grow close together, forming an interconnected system. On organic mixed farms such as Niceta’s, different crops and trees grow on the same area of land. Diversification distributes agricultural production across different crops and harvesting periods. The different layers of vegetation provide ground cover and create different habitats within the farm.
The mature organic macadamia trees on the farm were also admired. Their long leaves provide shade, while their foliage contributes to ground cover. Niceta owns 36 macadamia trees, which grow alongside many other plant species and represent one of her agricultural sources of income.

^{Field Manager Peterlis Musili, smallholder farmer Niceta Muriithi and Dr. Bärbel Kofler with fresh macadamia nuts on the tree}

The purchasing process for the fresh harvest was also demonstrated to the visitors. Farmers do not have to transport the macadamias, avocados and mangoes themselves. Instead, the harvests are weighed and loaded on site by LIMBUA’s purchasing teams and transported to the production facilities. The entire process is digitally traceable, and payment is made by mobile phone.

4. Harvest processing at the production sites

Finally, the delegation visited the new production facility in Ena, where the harvested produce is processed into avocado oil and macadamia kernels. The guests had the opportunity to experience the production process first-hand, including the ripeness testing of avocados, the weighing of the harvested produce and its processing into high-quality virgin oil using modern technology.

^{Food Safety Manager Ruth Imbahale explains the process of turning organic avocados into oil}

The visitors were also able to crack macadamia nuts themselves. Despite the hard outer shell, the kernel is delicate and easily damaged. To keep damage to the kernels as low as possible, LIMBUA uses manual cracking with specially developed hand-cracking tools for this processing step.

BMZ Macadamia cracking

^{Freshly cracked macadamia nuts – a process that requires precision}

German-Kenyan cooperation between BMZ and LIMBUA

The visit by Dr. Bärbel Kofler and her companions was a pleasure and a valuable exchange for everyone involved. It provided insights into smallholder-based organic agriculture, processing in Kenya, the use of technology and the employment of women and young people at LIMBUA’s sites.

The financing supports investments in the processing of organic products in Kenya and cooperation with the participating smallholder farmers.