Supporting African Companies
Partner Companies - Amfri Farms
Amfri Farms Limited grows and exports organic fruits and vegetables and is certified to EU standards. The offices and packing facility are situated in Kampala, Uganda. The Company-owned farm is located 85 km away in Luwero and has 430 acres of certified organic land. The company was formed in 1990 with 25 individual out-growers and co-operative farms. Today, the company has over 100 certified out-growers and deals with about 20 conventional growers.
Amfri Farms' vision is to contribute to poverty eradication, capacity building and the overall development of Uganda by exporting fresh, dried and value-added organic farm products and aims to be the largest exporter of high quality organic fruits and vegetables from Uganda. Amfri Farms is committed to doing this by dealing fairly with out-growers, who earn a premium over local prices, paying fair wages and providing safe and hygienic work conditions for employees.
Traidlinks and Amfri Farms
Traidlinks came into contact with Amfri Farms while searching for a dried fruit supplier to compliment the tea and coffee in the Heart of Africa range of products. Since August 2005 close engagement with Amfri Farms as a pilot partner company has served as an excellent learning platform for Traidlinks. By identifying gaps in key areas such as production, inventory, labour and accounts and by providing Amfri with relevant expertise to put in place the necessary management systems to address these gaps, Traidlinks has developed a model on which it can base much of its future engagement with Ugandan companies.
Mr. Amin Shivji, Managing Director of Amfri Farms is delighted with the relationship that has developed with Traidlinks and Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, commenting that the mentoring his company has received has been extremely practical, thorough and supportive.
“Working with Traidlinks, they don’t just improve the product and the packaging. They have stayed with us the whole evolution of the product the process the human resource, management. It has now matured to a professional level.....You walk in you are walking into a sophisticated environment. But this meant everybody has to be brought up to that level. “
Irish Aid recently visited Amfri Farms - download the information sheet here
Further details are available on Irish Aid's website www.irishaid.gov.ie
Traidlinks is delighted to announce that Amfri Farms was the recipient of a Silver Award at the President’s Exporters Award on October 3rd 2008.
The President's Exporters Award (PEA) is an annual event organized by Uganda Export Promotion Board, and took place on October 3rd 2008 at the Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala. The theme of this years award is "Creating A Competitive Export Enterprise In A Competitive World." The awards recognise the best performing exporters in Uganda and appreciate their contribution to national economic development.