SoteHub

Picture it: you’re a mango tree. That’s right, you’re a tree – but life isn’t so bad. You’re growing in a small orchard on a smallholder’s farm in Kilifi County, on the south-east coast of Kenya. You produce about 100 mangos a year, and the farmer and their family eat some and sell the rest at the farm gate to a person who carts them away on a motorbike. It’s an easy life for now, but things are changing. The rains don’t come as regularly as they used to so you get thirsty now and again, and sometimes 100 fruits a year can feel like a bit of a stretch. What’s more, the farmer only gets 18 pence per kilogram for your beautiful mangos, which isn’t really enough to be getting on with. Something’s got to give.  

You’re a good-hearted tree, determined to be the change you want to see in the world. You know some mango trees produce up to 400 fruits in a year (show-offs). You’re ready to step up and turn things around on this farm, but you’re just one tree and you’ve got to be realistic. Just how do you plan to step up… without feet? 

That’s where SoteHub comes in. They’re a Kenyan social enterprise with a plan to help mango farms across Kilifi County to increase their harvest and make more income from their crop. Over the next three years, they’ll help smallholders to tend their trees and plant new, higher yielding stock, and organise farmers’ co-operatives. They’ll also introduce digital weigh-scales to get farmers a fairer price based on the actual market, not the off-taker’s say-so. They want to see 1,000 farmers in the county doubling their production of mangos and bringing in 23 pence a kilogram. That’s much better. What’s more, with SoteHub, farmers can get an instant payment for their fruit on their mobile phones, right at the farm gate.  

You know all too well that money doesn’t grow on trees, but mangos do – and with higher instant payments for more mangos, smallholders stand a much better chance of making a good livelihood in a changing climate. Not a bad effort for a tree.  

Read about our other projects here.