Carrier Transicold Solution Helps East African Farm Significantly Reduce Food Loss and Operating Costs

Introduction

A Carrier Transicold transport refrigeration solution helped a well-known farm in Rwanda improve its cold chain and deliver fresh, nutritious produce to local and regional markets while significantly reducing food loss and operating costs. Learn how virtuous entrepreneurship, close teamwork and advanced technology unlocked market access and sustainable growth.

Kigali Farms started growing oyster mushrooms in 2010 to provide sustainable income opportunities for small-scale farmers in Rwanda, help fight malnutrition and create local jobs. The business later expanded to produce button mushrooms that are packaged and shipped to Kenya.

Laurent Demuynck, the founder and CEO of Kigali Farms, was inspired by the idea of creating a business that would benefit those who need it most. Originally from Belgium, he has lived and worked in various countries, including Canada, the United States and Rwanda. He moved to Rwanda with the goal of tackling malnutrition by growing mushrooms. Why mushrooms? They are packed with protein and nutrition, and offer an unbeatable yield and easy farming – the perfect crop for small-hold farming. And, why Rwanda? The densely populated and fast-growing country offers a favorable climate, collaborative environment, and most importantly, a community that can benefit from and contribute to sustainable agri-business. This is why Kigali Farms was founded in 2010.

While Rwanda was an ideal location to grow mushrooms, Demuynck saw value in selling the mushrooms in Nairobi, Kenya. In order to tackle the long commute – 2 border crossings and 2 days by road – Demuynck needed help with reliable temperature-controlled transport.

Mushrooms are highly perishable and require constant temperature control during transport. Kigali Farms initially faced challenges with inconsistent results from various third-party transporters.

“When we began shipping our button mushrooms to Nairobi using third-party transporters, we observed irregular temperature logs in the refrigerated compartment and unreliable product quality, resulting in significant losses upon arrival,” said Demuynck, the founder and CEO of Kigali Farms. “The lack of control over the cold chain resulted in 20% product loss and ultimately put the business at risk.”

To overcome this, Kigali Farms invested in its own refrigerated truck equipped with Carrier Transicold’s Supra^® 750 unit, which offers constant evaporation airflow for controlled humidity, a robust design, high reliability and high-cooling performance. Developed for distribution environments with multiple door openings, the Supra 750 offers cold chain continuity – a necessity during mushroom loading and unloading operations, and during custom controls at border crossings. The unit also achieves superior pull-down and accurate temperature control at all set points.

Proper refrigeration, when combined with loading best practices and quality packaging materials, provides optimal performance and freshness. The changes Kigali Farms made helped immediately – the temperature of the mushrooms stayed stable throughout the first journey to Nairobi.

The Supra 750 refrigeration unit immediately proved how temperature-controlled equipment could achieve market access and help restore a jeopardized business. It also sparked a virtuous circle of benefits including substantially improved waste reduction, more sustainable farming, increased self-employment and better nutrition for all.

With Carrier Transicold’s Supra 750, Kigali Farms’ temperature-controlled truck now travels from Nairobi to Kigali every week with fruit or third-party goods, enough to pay for the costs of operating the route. This creates a lot of potential for other businesses who want to transport their products on this road.