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ReKamoso AgriMart

About

Two Batswana, building the market they wanted to see.

ReKamoso AgriMart is the trading name of Thobotech Solutions (Pty) Ltd, a company registered in Botswana. It is built and run by the two of us, from Gaborone.

Why we built it

What we saw.

A farmer can grow a good crop and still have nowhere to take it. Often that means selling at the gate, to whoever turns up that week, at whatever price is offered.

There is no easy way to check what a crop is worth on the day. Without that, a farmer negotiates blind. A fair offer and a poor one look exactly the same.

A business with shelves to fill has the opposite problem. It needs the same quantity every week, at a quality it can predict. One small farm cannot promise that, so the buyer goes to a larger supplier instead, and the small farm stays small.

Most of this trade runs on phone calls, messages and paper. Little of it is written down anywhere lasting. So a farmer who delivers well for two years has nothing to show for it, and the next buyer still has to take them on trust.

What we are building

Where this goes.

One system, extended one vertical at a time, in the order we can do properly.

Underneath the marketplace is the part that does not change: the register of farms, the identity checks, the contracts and the record of every delivery. That system is not specific to vegetables. A contract for goats is still a contract.

  1. 01

    Horticulture

    Live now

    We started here. Fruit and vegetables move in small lots and sell often, so we learn from real trades every week rather than once a season.

  2. 02

    Livestock and meat

    In build

    Small stock next, goats and sheep, because the lots are small enough for one farmer to sell and the trade is already common.

  3. 03

    Poultry

    In build

    Then birds and eggs, which sell on a short, steady cycle that suits contracts more than one-off listings.

Livestock needs more than the shared system gives it. Each animal has to be recorded against BAITS, with its breed, its live weight and its carcass grade. That is the work in front of us, and it is why livestock and poultry are not open for trade yet.

We would rather ship one vertical that works than three that half work. See how trading works today.

Why it matters

What changes when a farmer has a market.

None of these are big on their own. Together they move who holds the advantage in a sale.

The margin stays nearer the farm
When a farm sells straight to the business that uses the produce, fewer hands take a cut on the way. More of what the buyer pays reaches the person who grew it.
Knowing the price beforehand
Both sides can see what a product has been selling for. A farmer no longer has to guess, and a poor offer is easier to recognise for what it is.
A record worth having
A verified farm with a history of completed deliveries has proof that it is reliable. A new buyer can check it instead of taking a stranger on trust.
Small farms reaching bigger buyers
Putting supply from several farms together lets farms that are individually too small take on orders that would otherwise go elsewhere.

We are not claiming to have solved any of this. We are saying it is the right thing to build, and that horticulture is where we are proving whether it works.

The company

Who stands behind it.

Both founders are Allan Gray Orbis Fellows. ReKamoso AgriMart has received grant support from E-Squared Investments.

Get in touch

Write to hello@rekamosoagrimart.com. We are in Gaborone, Botswana.