Aiponics, an agritech start-up based in Zambia, has announced the launch of Hrvst, a digital marketplace to ensure customers and restaurants have easier access to local farm produce.
Hrvst’s vision is to connect farmers to consumers within Africa, making it convenient to get fresh farm produce.
According to Christopher Chileshe, the founder of Aiponics;
“With many parts of Africa facing a food crisis and the inherent risk of relying on other nations for food security, there has never been a better time to bring innovation and technology into a space that sorely needs it. We’re focused on creating hyper-local capacity for food security while increasing the quality and diversity of the food available to every person on the continent.”
Restaurants often complain of not getting fresh farm produce from wholesalers, limited choice offerings, and also the tedious purchase process of select produce.
This is largely due to the supply chain in getting farm produce to the storage facility, before it finally hits stores. Often this process can take weeks and by then, the produce would no longer be fresh and may need preservatives to maintain their integrity, reducing their nutrient quality.
Hrvst reduces this farm-to-table distance, ensuring that restaurants and homes can quickly get high-quality produce.
Farmers also benefit greatly from this as it helps them generate much needed revenue to maintain their farms.
The Hrvst app will link farmers and their produce to various customers in the community. Customers can demand fresh produce and have it delivered from the vendors to their doorstep. This way, both farmers and food processors are satisfied.
Mutalo M’bebe, a farmer on the Hrvst app, asserted that “the direct delivery from the farmer to the customer is not only fast but affordable compared to the middleman option, and means I can get better returns for produce anytime I want to sell.”
For the end consumer, in addition to the affordable prices, they are incentivized with discounts or promo code. This is good news, especially for low-revenue restaurants and low-income households as they would not have to spend as much to get the products they need.
M’bebe noted that there is a minimal membership fee for vendors but since it is free for customers, more people will subscribe to the app in the next few months.
Hrvst has a Vendor App; for vendors to manage their produce that are digitally displayed; the Customer App, to order from a wide variety of farm produce; and a Drivers’ App which provides drivers with an optimized route for their daily delivery.
Along the line of its visions of food security for Africa, Aiponics has another innovative project in the works called Aquaponics. Aquaponics combines two agricultural practices, aquaculture and hydroponics.
In aquaponics, the mineral rich water from the aquaculture is the source of nutrients for the crops. Aquaponics is especially useful in areas with arid land or scarce freshwater.
This franchise aims to empower more young, local farmers in Africa, specifically in Zambia, to increase their capacity and manpower.
In order to achieve this vision, Curtis Madden has joined the Aiponics team as the Chief Executive Officer.
Speaking to this, Curtis said “We’re reshaping an entire ecosystem by vertically aligning the complete supply chain and injecting technology every step of the way to bring about the social good that will be sustainable long after we’re gone.”
The official launch for the Hrvst digital app is on July 9th in Lusaka, Zambia. For more information on how to attend go to https://bit.ly/HrvstMarketDay
About
Aiponics Inc is an Agritech start-up founded in Zambia by Christopher Chileshe. The vision of Aiponics is to connect portable farms to food processors and consumers directly with high-quality fresh local farm produce ensuring food security and diversity.
Founder
Christopher Chileshe
Chris believes that leveraging innovative technologies can bring about positive changes to Africa. He has worked in diverse multinational corporations traversing sectors like finance, manufacturing, software, technology. He is very passionate about bringing about positive change through technology and corporate social responsibility.
Curtis Madden, CEO of Aiponics
Curtis has over a decade of experience in financial services, logistics and supply chain distribution on the African continent. He is particularly focused on exploring the development opportunities in evolving markets to improve their overall economic climate. His goal is to help unlock the potential of Africa by building local capacity to solve localized problems.
For more information, please contact:
info@aiponics.io
https://www.hrvst.market/
