Driving Growth in Horticulture: Strongim Bisnis and Bulk Shop's Collaborative Success

Summary

In 2023, Strongim Bisnis partnered with Bulk Shop and key agricultural stakeholders to elevate the horticulture sector in the Solomon Islands. This collaboration focused on enhancing value addition and streamlining supply chains, resulting in a notable increase in the variety and sales of locally sourced horticultural crops.

The Issue

The horticulture sector in the Solomon Islands faced significant challenges, including limited crop variety, high post-harvest losses, and inefficient supply chains. Bulk Shop, a leading Honiara-based supermarket chain, struggled with sourcing a diverse range of horticultural crops due to these sector-wide issues. The lack of aggregation and processing facilities further hindered their ability to offer a variety of high-quality products and meet customer demand.

Strongim Bisnis support

Strongim Bisnis played a crucial role in transforming Bulk Shop's horticultural operations by expanding its crop variety from 8 to 24 types and establishing a new processing facility for grading, cleaning, packaging, and chip manufacturing. The program also enhanced procurement practices and streamlined the supply chain through collaboration with East Guadalcanal farms and smallholder farmers, reducing travel costs and strengthening supplier relationships.

Outcome

This comprehensive support resulted in a 40% increase in horticultural produce sales, with 133 farmers—75% of whom are women—benefiting from new economic opportunities and generating SBD 129,800 in sales. Looking forward, Bulk Shop plans to invest over SBD 450,000 in developing a banana and root crop chips factory by the end of 2024, highlighting the successful impact of Strongim Bisnis’ support.