Himilo Farm

Established in 1990, Himilo Farm (“Himilo”) is a family-owned farm that spans 50 hectares and produces quality cash crops for sale to domestic traders and distributors. In addition, Himilo has a booth at one of the major business centers in the district, where it sells its produce. The farm produces most of its cash crops, but occasionally purchases additional crops from local farmers, depending on demand. In 2017, Himilo received a Shuraako-brokered investment to install a borehole and water tank for efficient irrigation. Since then, the farm has benefited from reliable waterflow and uninterrupted high production of commercial crops, while also growing its staff by 33 percent.

In 2019, Himilo sought to address its most pressing challenge of decreased revenues due to spoilage of 20–24 percent of its crops during transport to market, as a result of extreme heat. Through an additional Shuraako-facilitated investment, the farm was able to dig a 130m borehole, purchase packaging materials, and construct two adjacent buildings. The buildings will serve as processing and refrigerated storage facilities where the crops will be packaged to ensure consumers receive healthy and reliable produce. Himilo will be the first of its kind in the region to offer freshly packaged crops.