STAWI FOODS AND FRUITS LIMITED reduces farmers’ poverty and unemployment in Africa

Bananas are not available all year round which causes a huge volatility in price. A lot of farmers have their bananas harvest either wasted or sold with very poor yields. Lack of storage and processing facilities, bad roads and poor access to markets, also did not help to solve the problems.

Often, middlemen that buy bananas don’t think about farmers’ interests.
Farmers not only need buyers to purchase their bananas at responsible prices; but they also need a market for their product so as to avoid waste.

Eric Muthomi, CEO of Stawi Foods, wants to offer more value addition for farmers and to put an end to the model of middlemen, which serve their own interests. He completely redefines added value. Stawi Foods attempts to extract benefits for the banana surrounding farmers and to reconnect society. It addresses gender disparities by empowering women and helps farming families increase production in a sustainable way. It provides a market for small-scale farmers and increases the shelf life of bananas from one week to one year by turning them into flour.

Stawi Foods is becoming a popular brand, with a unique product, fairly serving the interests of stakeholders and it is successful in its task to create sustainable food-processing ventures.

Best Practice spotted by the World Forum for a Sustainable Economy 2014.