KENYA · GUIDE 0011 · EDITION 4.2
French bean growing in Kenya: Customers and Market Demand
The buyer and the buying decision
Local wholesalers or kitchens with clear pod specifications. The offer to test is: Produce French beans to an agreed local-buyer grade.
Select a domestic kitchen or trader whose French bean specification you can inspect directly, and define a separate outlet for beans outside that preferred grade.
Separate interest from an accepted order
Trial a small plot for a named buyer; do not assume export acceptance.
The purpose of this test is to establish whether the buyer accepts the specified result, delivery arrangement and payment terms. An encouraging interview does not establish repeat demand. Ask what the buyer currently uses, what would make them change supplier and who has authority to approve the first order. Record a refusal as carefully as an enquiry so that unsuccessful offers do not disappear from the evidence.
Collect evidence specific to this offer
Keep photographs of the agreed pod examples and record accepted weight, rejected reasons, labour time and the price actually received for each grade sold locally.
| Question to resolve | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| What exactly will the buyer accept? | Have the customer examine a representative harvest before sorting, explaining which pods they reject for tenderness, shape or visible damage during their normal buying process. |
| What is included in the first trial? | Select a domestic kitchen or trader whose French bean specification you can inspect directly, and define a separate outlet for beans outside that preferred grade. |
| How will a prospect see the offer? | Obtain written buyer specifications, especially if a buyer mentions export supply. |
| What must happen before repeating the trial? | Pods should match agreed length, tenderness and condition without hiding off-grade stock. |
Decide whether to continue
Review the specification with the buyer before committing to tools or stock. A trial is commercially useful only if actual costs, rejected work, time spent and cash collected can be reconciled. The plan fails when local sales assumptions borrow premium specifications or prices from unfamiliar export channels that the grower has neither access nor acceptance for.
If a buyer changes the required output, record a new scope and re-cost the test. Do not count a request for a different product as proof of demand for the original one. Keep personal contact details in your private records and use customer statements publicly only with permission.
Turn the example into a buyer test
Fictional French-bean order: an independent hotel agrees to buy 15 kg of tender, whole green pods on Tuesday, with another order considered only after the first grade passes. Its chef approves a sample for pod thickness, length and absence of protruding seeds. Deliver three separately weighed 5 kg crates and a grade tally identifying the harvest block. This is a local fresh-food order, not an export-compliance claim. Export contracting, residue requirements and buyer certification must be investigated separately before serving that channel.
| Buyer discussion | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| Specification to confirm | Write the chosen grade and rejection reasons, including strings and visible seeds, rather than using an unexplained premium label. |
| Output to inspect | Record accepted kilograms, payment terms and whether its preparation waste matches the pilot sample. |
| Failure that can defeat acceptance | Pods are stringy |
Ask the buyer to describe one acceptable and one unacceptable result. Record the decision maker, price basis, quantity, handover point and payment date privately. A sample request, an encouraging conversation and an accepted order are different evidence. Keep the first commitment within your demonstrated capacity; no customer interview or successful trial is asserted here.
What a failed test should change
Compare seed prominence and maturity with the signed sample. If the offer cannot meet that check, revise the specification or process before promising a repeat. Keep rejected offers and reasons in the same register as positive replies so that your record does not exaggerate demand.