Making Supply Chains Work at the Sokoni Agribusiness Expo

At the 3rd Sokoni Agribusiness Expo and Conference 2026, our co-founder Carren Mwanzia moderated a panel on farm-to-processing supply chains. Here are our takeaways on aggregation and designing supply chains around the farmer's reality.

Over 95% of Kenya's fresh produce is grown by smallholder farmers. Yet only a fraction of it reaches a processor on time, at quality, and at a fair price. Why?

On the 15th of May, we spent an hour unpacking exactly this at the 3rd Sokoni Agribusiness Expo and Conference 2026, where our co-founder Carren Mwanzia moderated Panel 2: From Farm to Processing, Making Supply Chains Work. Here are our takeaways from the conversation.

Farmers are stronger together, but only if the group is designed well. Aggregation through cooperatives, hubs, or farmer producer organisations gives smallholders collective bargaining power, reduces per-unit logistics costs, and makes them visible to processors who simply cannot work with hundreds of individuals.

Supply chains must be designed for the farmer's reality, not around it. From quality rejection losses to payment delays that land at school fees time, smallholders absorb costs that never appear in a project design document. The supply chains that last are the ones built with the farmer at the table from the start, not consulted at the end.

This is exactly the work Spring Agric is trying to do: bringing farmers together where possible for collective market access, and always designing our programs with farmers, not just for them.

We are grateful to the panelists who shared their perspectives, to the Sokoni Agri-Business Expo team, and to everyone in that room who asked the hard questions from the floor. There is more to do.