Zambia’s Agritech Start-up, Aiponics Announces New Digital Farmers’ Market
The Hrvst digital farmers’ market was introduced by Aiponics, a well-known AgriTech business, to make it easier for customers and restaurants to purchase local products.
The platform was recently established in Zambia and now has 79 restaurant partners throughout Lusaka, hundreds of early-access users, and is supported by over 20 farmers of all sizes.
Aiponics, a company founded by Christopher Chileshe, plans to set up a network of container farms that will greatly shorten the distance from farm to table while supplying African communities with high-quality fresh produce, crop diversity, and food security. Through an integration with the app and displaying the container as a vendor, the Hrvst marketplace will act as a source of demand for produce from container farms. The team playfully refers to this as the ‘vegetable vending machine’ model.
Chris said, “There has never been a better time to introduce innovation and technology into a market that severely needs it. Many sections of Africa are experiencing a food crisis, and there is a danger associated with relying on other countries for food security. Our main goal is to increase the quality and variety of food that is readily available to every person on the continent while also developing hyper-local capacity for food security.
The Hrvst platform makes it simpler and more inexpensive for buyers and sellers by enabling farmers to market their goods and sell directly to consumers and restaurants. The platform already offers a strong selection of features designed to help and empower each end-user to harness the platform’s potential.
Performance statistics, order administration, fleet management, and an integrated point-of-sale functionality are all included in the vendor app. These features enable cashless transactions using mobile money and credit card payments.
The Driver App: View allocated orders, optimize routes, and confirm deliveries The Customer app allows users to book future orders, order fresh food from an incredible selection of local vendors for delivery or pick-up at predetermined locations, and learn about the health advantages of the foods mentioned.
In order to increase delivery capacity for small-scale farmers who could struggle with fulfillment, the Aiponics team wants to integrate third-party delivery services into the existing robust collection of functions on Hrvst.
Aiponics is developing a franchise concept for container-based aquaponic farms in addition to the Hrvst marketplace. To increase local capacity and help more people escape poverty, the team wants to teach aquaponics to local marketeers and young farmers.
Aiponics is happy to announce that Curtis Madden has joined as CEO to assist in carrying out this ambition. Curtis has a broad range of commercial experience, including distribution of culinary services, real estate investing, and real estate. He thinks that in order to overcome its problems, Africa, including Zambia, must develop its own afrocentric solutions. By creating solutions that are mass-affordable, accessible, and sustainable employing local talent and experience, he hopes to contribute to unraveling these complexities.
“I am beyond thrilled to be a part of a mission-driven group with such a lofty goal. By vertically aligning the entire supply chain and incorporating technology at every stage, we are redesigning an entire ecosystem to create social good that will last long after we are gone, according to Curtis.
Curtis will be in charge of Aiponics’ aggressive growth strategies, which include opening the first container farm franchise in Lusaka, Zambia, and bringing the Hrvst marketplace to five more African nations over the next two years.
