TANZANIA – Ten Senses Africa, producer and exporter of organic and fair-trade macadamia and cashew nuts from Kenya has received backing from Pamoja Farms to expand its macadamia sourcing in East Africa mostly from Tanzania.
The partnership according to Ten Senses comes with a significant financial injection and increased management capacity in the company.
Pamoja Farms, a Swiss based operating group is set to bring onboard a lot of expertise on both management of tree seedlings nurseries and orchards, and in agronomy having been a player in the Macadamia value chain for 10 years in Tanzania.
The collaboration also seeks to introduce more advanced training to the 5,000 small holders currently enrolled in Ten Senses’ out-grower program.
“This is a great boost, we are looking forward to more capacity to meet our expansion demands,” says Frank Omondi, Ten Senses Managing Director.
Pamoja Farms aiming to become a leading player in the sustainable nuts industry, joins the two Dutch funders in Ten Senses i.e., DOB Equity, and Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).
“We are very excited by this new collaboration with Ten Senses which allows us to expand our regional presence in the sustainable nuts industry.
“We see Ten Senses as a leading player in macadamias and cashew nuts with lots of synergies with us in terms of expertise and management,” says Guillaume Maillard, Pamoja Farms Managing Director.
“This is a great boost, we are looking forward to more capacity to meet our expansion demands.”
Frank Omondi – Ten Senses Managing Director
Currently Ten Senses is involved in an ambitious cashew seedlings distribution program in partnership with the European Union and Slovak Aid, that will see the firm complete the 1 Million seedlings project aimed at reviving the cashew sector in Kenya.
As part of the US$2.4 million, 5-year project launched in 2018, the company plans to construct a new cashew nut processing factory in Kilifi, coast region of Kenya with an annual processing capacity of 10,000 metric tonnes.
Other than the recent investments in Kenya’s nut sector accrued by Ten Senses, Kenya Nut Company, East Africa’s largest nut processing firm clinched a US$ 18.7m loan financing from Proparco late last year.
The long-term financing will facilitate the company’s 2019-2021 development plan and help it cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitate short-term cashflow needs to give it flexibility in this particular period.
Proparco will also help meet Kenya Nut’s request to improve corporate governance and environmental performance, which are key areas of development for this company experiencing strong growth.
With a macadamia nut production of some 32,000 tons in 2019, Kenya is the third largest producer of macadamia nuts in the world, accounting for 14% of global production.
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