If Malaysia could cut of the middle-man in food supply, there will no longer be uncontrolled price hikes, disgruntled farmers and overall better economy for agriculture. Patriots Holding has just about made this pipedream possible, the company has launched its own agribusiness e-commerce arm, Kebun Kita to give farmers an opportunity to sell their produce direct to consumers via this platform.
In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries revealed that Malaysia has not reached the level of self-sufficiency for basic food, despite numerous efforts done to increase food production and improve the supply chain of fresh produce at the national level. Patriot found that one of the main reasons for this issue is the price imbalance faced by the farmers.
Kebun Kita was established to bridge the market gap and to respond to the continuing issues of price imbalance in the industry. It buys directly from small farmers and distributes the goods to end-users and businesses. Uniquely, Kebun Kita allows the farmers to set the price for their goods, ensuring that they sell at a profit and thus creating a win-win relationship. To date, the platform has established partnerships with several farms in several states as well as with local food suppliers.
Apart from that the platform aims to set up a network of micro-warehouses which are called minihubs located in or near the most densely populated areas to enable easy access and express delivery to customers. This startup also created community-based business opportunities for the locals by offering a profit-sharing scheme as agents or mini-hub operators. It currently operates 4 mini-hubs and is expected to have 10 mini-hubs by the end of the year.
