Mary Ellen Angland International Project Manager, FoodCloud
Introduction
In just one year Foodiverse, FoodCloud’s virtual food rescue platform, has facilitated the redistribution of nearly 2.2 million meals with partner Food Banking Kenya. That’s over 500 tonnes of surplus food delivered to people experiencing hunger and food insecurity in Kenya. This initiative has also saved approximately 494 tonnes of CO2 equivalent from going to waste. Throughout this project, FoodCloud has collaborated with Food Banking Kenya and the Global Foodbanking Network, with funding support from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. In this article, we are celebrating the lives positively impacted by Foodiverse as well as the environmental benefits achieved.
Equivalent meals in Kenya are calculated as 1 meal = 0.23 kg
Foodiverse in Kenya
In Kenya, about 40% of the food produced is never consumed while almost 37% of the population is food insecure, with children being particularly vulnerable to hunger. The project has enabled Kenyan-based food bank, Food Banking Kenya, to establish a virtual food banking system using Foodiverse with the aim of providing food to more people. Unlike traditional food banking, which relies on centralised warehouses and extensive infrastructure for collection and delivery, Foodiverse simplifies the process by connecting beneficiary agencies to food donors with surplus food directly.
Receiving food donations on Foodiverse saves beneficiary agencies time and fuel because they can collect surplus food donations locally without the need to travel to Food Banking Kenya’s Nairobi warehouse or regional distribution centres. As a result, beneficiary agencies benefit from the increased frequency and volume of food as well as reduced transport costs. This approach also reduces Food Banking Kenya’s need for additional transport and storage facilities.
Over the past year, Food Banking Kenya has used Foodiverse to expand access to food for those facing hunger and food insecurity, all without requiring costly new infrastructure.
Foodiverse’s impact on Vineyard Children’s Centre
Vineyard Children’s Centre is one of the beneficiary agencies that regularly receives donations on Foodiverse. The home provides support to 120 disadvantaged children, many of whom are orphans. It provides food, clothes, education and social support to the children and also runs a community outreach programme to support local families experiencing food insecurity.
Before using Foodiverse, the Vineyard Children Centre Director, Margaret, had to go to Food Banking Kenya’s warehouse to collect food donations at least once per month. Now she can access highly nutritious vegetables, including green beans, sugar snaps and mangetout, from a local food business in her local neighbourhood directly on a weekly basis. This helps Margaret to save on transport costs and she also benefits from a more regular and reliable food supply. Since the introduction of Foodiverse, Vineyard Children Centre has collected 39 surplus food donations from Phyma Fresh Produce, receiving 8,648 kg of food overall. The centre reports that this improved diet has a positive impact on the children’s health and concentration in class.
"After Foodiverse came on board... we got even more help because we receive vegetables every Saturday now and I’m not stressed about when I will be getting more food. It’s a long distance from Food Banking Kenya to where I am... now I don’t use a lot of time or money the way I used to. Once I receive a notification I can just send someone to go pick up the food."
Margaret Muthoni Muigai, Founder, Vineyard Children Centre
Foodiverse food donor partners in Kenya
Many of the donations offered on Foodiverse in Kenya are from commercial farms and packhouses that grow and sort fruit and vegetables for the export market. A key focus of the project is agricultural recovery: recovering farm-level surplus food. When the food is redistributed, the greenhouse gas emissions of wasted food are also avoided, and the emissions, land, energy, water and biodiversity costs involved in producing food are saved from going to waste.
Food Banking Kenya has also onboarded municipal markets, food processors and retailers to Foodiverse, all of whom regularly offer surplus food donations on the platform. Each week, an average of 10 tonnes of nutritious surplus food is redirected to local beneficiary agencies, supporting schools, children's homes and orphanages and care homes for sick and elderly people.
To support this impactful growth, FoodCloud has invested in developing a range of Kenya-specific Foodiverse platform features. These include the ability to split large volume agricultural donations between beneficiary agencies as well as SMS notifications for food donations for beneficiary agencies with limited data access.
The future of Foodiverse in Kenya
It has been a fantastic year of partnership and impact, resulting in Food Banking Kenya redistributing 149% more surplus food in 2024 compared to 2023. The effective collaboration between FoodCloud, Food Banking Kenya, the Global FoodBanking Network as well as the commitment from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, local food businesses and beneficiary agencies has been critical to the project’s success.
With almost 37% of Kenya’s population facing food insecurity, growing virtual food redistribution is crucial. The last 12 months are only the beginning: by 2028, Food Banking Kenya aims to have redistributed the equivalent of over 30 million meals to people experiencing food insecurity. The successful implementation of Foodiverse in Kenya illustrates how a tech solution developed by FoodCloud, a small Irish non-profit, can address food insecurity and reduce waste, with the potential to have a huge global impact.
Spread the word
Share this article with your network and join us in our vision of a world where no good food goes to waste. Find out more about FoodCloud’s Foodiverse platform here.
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