Kanybek was formed in1998, in Rank in the Northern part of Sudan. Kanybek deals in agriculture, they cultivate cassava, maize, and sorghum in Rank, but then in 2003, they expanded it in Malakal in the same field. Kanybek went ahead and introduced a bakery in Malakal that is in the year 2007, also in Bor. They are now dealing in the bakery and sorghum, cassava and maize milling; they have managed to locate their office in Juba. The project expanded as it got funding from the USADF in the year 2018.
Kanybek Bakery Staff in Juba with their Business Manager; Mr Godfrey Kapek
The business adapted well with the pandemic, educating their staff and members and finding an efficient way of continuing their business such as the staff rotations in the bakeries and the hand-washing station they placed at the bakeries selling point for both staff and customers. The Kanybek group will be launching their branch in the next two months, which will be May as it comes to a close.
Kanybek’s Bakery is also one of the cheapest bakery’s in Juba, 400ssp for a bag of bread (which contains 10 pieces of bread), using about 13- 20 50KG sacks where 1 sack produces 1,000 pieces of bread, Kanybek produces about 13,000 to 20,000 pieces of bread in a day. The group is working on opening a new bakery in Juba Town, finishing up final touches and plan to open this year.
The Wooden Oven in their Bakery
Kanybek’s Bakery selling point
The group attracted an International organization, this is to show that they have been on their toes and are achieving their goals. Kanybek being known for always putting effort and hard work in whatever they do, this is just to show that they are taking it to another level to want to be the major bread producing company in South Sudan. An International Organization called the IFDC (International Fertilizer Development Center) sought out Kanybek- impressed with their work to learn more about them and discuss potentially working with them in the future. They discussed potentially mixing wheat and maize however with the local method of baking the bread will be hardened and modern bakeries’ use chemical to make the bread softer using these techniques so as the group ventures into modernizing their bakeries they may potentially use this method, but a lot of consumption is not good for the body so they are also in the process of researching healthy alternatives to incorporate in their baking.
Kanybek group is also expanding their farms to a new location to reach more farmers in Central Equatoria that are good areas for maize production.
Transforming Agriculture through Cooperative Institutional Development and Capacity Building
Through funding from the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), Foundation for Youth Initiative (FYI) supports farming cooperative groups in South Sudan by way of capacity building and cooperative institutional development. Kuru-Ko Wate Women’s Self Help is one of the cooperative groups that FYI has worked with and helped transform through the Fresh Vegetables and Spice Processing Capacity Building Project.
Senior Staff Members of the Co-op
Kuru Ko Wate’s Foo Processing Center where they process their organic Spices and Vegetables
Before the start of the project, Kuru Ko Wate was having difficulty in understanding the seasons and weather and particular crops that should be planted at each season. The climate led to poor/low yields for this co-op.
Vegetables and fruits are important components of South Sudanese dishes. Vegetables and fruits are grown under nearly all farming systems. The potential for growing Amaranthus, Sukuma wiki (Kale), Onions, Okra (Lady Fingers), Tomatoes, Eggplants, Potatoes, Cabbages, Bananas, Mangoes, Papayas, Oranges, Lemons and Pineapples is very high. Their short maturity, quick ground cover, relatively high productivity, and adaptation to a more marginal soil condition allow farmers significant flexibility on how they incorporate the crop into their farming system. Currently, most of the vegetables and food commodities sold in South Sudanese markets are imported from Uganda which makes the products more expensive to the poor public despite the country having the potential to produce its own food and possibly export to neighbouring countries. KKSH took the initiative to breach this high-demand market plus adding value to their products by processing spices with them.
KKSH has improved its management capabilities and transformed the group through capacity building and engagement of embedded experts who taught KKSH production, processing, marketing, and financial management. Vegetable yields increased from less than 1 ton per hectare to about 3t/ha and members’ standard of living also drastically improved. The group managed to acquire high-quality seeds that they provided their farmers with in order to increase the value of their agricultural yield and quality of their products- which meant more production of their spices which they also package and sell in multiple supermarkets across Juba; Jet supermarket, Phenicia Supermarket and Diesel Supermarket and in the future with more revenues and a production increase, they seek to expand to supply more supermarkets within Juba attempting to establish dominance in the market. Also, the multiple trainings carried out amongst the members benefited them by building their capacity in business knowledge which they apply to their own individual businesses and personal lives (improved livelihoods).
Kuru Ko Wate’s Range of Processed Spices to supply supermarkets
