Managing a farmer's supply chain is sometimes complicated. They are susceptible to many issues such as squeezing margins, fruit availability, vendor pricing, market accessibility, and fruit quality. Farm management systems are essential tools in farms and food processing industries.

In the food and beverage sector, the percentage of availability of fruits to the consumers and factories is still low. For instance, despite the increasing number of wineries in Kenya and Europe, we still can't sustain the lucrative grape market. The demand curve for wine and table grapes have been going upwards throughout. After the opening of the Chinese and Mauritius' market for avocados, the supply is still low despite the rising population and more consumption of the fruit. Buyers have one complaint in common; obtaining the desired quantity and quantity is an issue.

What Does This Mean?

The agriculture supply chains are quite complicated. Processing companies order specific fruits to farmers either to make value-added products such as macadamia in making cosmetics and chocolate using macadamia, wine using grapes, and juices using fruits such as oranges. When the fruits get to the warehouse, however, the processors are unable to process the entire product.

There are some questions which when posed to an executive at a fruit processing company they will barely be capable of providing a detailed answer. Maybe they won’t even have an answer for that. They include:

  1. How many fruits will the farmer produce?
  2. Is the farmer using the most efficient farming techniques to enhance fruit quality?
  3. Can the farmer sustain the customer?
  4. Are the set targets achieved and realistic?
  5. What are food processing companies doing to ensure that the farmer produces the desired quantity?
  6. How do farmers cope with price changes?
  7. Is the farmer doing fruit farming as an agribusiness and are they making a significant profit?
  8. What should farmers do to enhance the productivity of their trees?

Processing companies are one of the largest consumers of fruits such as grapes and macadamia and hence have a couple of farmers/producers in their value chain. This means there are a lot of questions on how they handle their supply chains.

What can Processing Companies do to Answer These Questions?

The most efficient way of answering these questions is by acquiring real-time data from the farmers or producers. This will help them to come up with efficient plans especially in meeting targets, sales, marketing, and strategies.

With the rapid advancements in technology, many companies in agriculture are embracing these innovations into their supply chains. Implementing farm management systems is one of the most effective ways of solving the problems that farmers and fruit processing factories face. Farmers and buyers can use the same system but with different features.

5 Ways in Which Farm Management Systems Solve Problems in the Fruit Farming Supply Chain

Cost-saving

When doing farming as an agribusiness, monitoring a farmer's accounts in one system is a good way of improving traceability, farming techniques employed, and supply chain management. Performing all management tasks in one place can help the farmer cut costs of orchard management, agronomy support, and marketing.

Reducing risk

Providing real-time data helps processing companies and consumers to know the employed farming practices, the fruit quality, and produce that they can deliver. The rising concern on extensive use of pesticides is sparkling fear to consumers, especially in the export market. A platform with real-time data on pesticide use assures consumers and processors that the fruits are safe.

Traceability

Farm management systems provide an insight into how fruit processors and farmers are adhering to the set industry standards. 

Quality

Fruit quality is essential element the agriculture subsector. No buyer is willing to invest in low-quality fruits. Having a user-friendly dashboard can help farmers know the best farming practices they should employ to enhance production and fruit quality. At the same time, it can help buyers fruit quality before approaching the farmer.

Transferring knowledge

Having many farmers and buyers in a centralized system provides an ideal ground for farmers to share information on how they can enhance productivity and have higher bargaining power.  

When venturing into fruit farming, looking for help is essential. Whenever you are looking for agronomy support or want to kickstart your venture with high-quality seedlings, Oxfarm Ag Ltd will always assist you. Since every industry is embracing innovations in technology, we at Oxfarm would be happy to see you apply these advancements in your orchard.