KENYA · GUIDE 0034 · EDITION 4.2
Lemongrass growing in Kenya: Customers and Market Demand
The buyer and the buying decision
Tea vendors, kitchens and herb retailers. The offer to test is: Grow lemongrass for tea and culinary customers.
Separate lemongrass sold as cooking stalks from leaves bought for drinks and rooted planting clumps, giving each a clear description and independent selling unit locally.
Separate interest from an accepted order
Ask buyers whether they require stalks, fresh leaves or planting clumps before trial harvest.
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
Record the plant part ordered, raw harvest weight, prepared saleable quantity and use feedback, then compare repeat demand before favouring one product in the planting plan.
| Question to resolve | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| What exactly will the buyer accept? | Ask the buyer to prepare the relevant part of a trial harvest, checking whether trimming, fibre and bundle arrangement suit the intended kitchen or planting task. |
| What is included in the first trial? | Separate lemongrass sold as cooking stalks from leaves bought for drinks and rooted planting clumps, giving each a clear description and independent selling unit locally. |
| How will a prospect see the offer? | Demonstrate the agreed format to vendors rather than assuming leaves and stalks have the same market. |
| What must happen before repeating the trial? | Clean, correctly identified material and consistent usable portions should be the quality promise. |
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. A mixed bundle creates disappointment when a buyer expects substantial cooking stalks but receives mostly leaves, even though both parties use the same familiar crop name.
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 lemongrass sale: a Thai-style soup kitchen orders fifty bundles of four sound culinary stalks, outer tough layers removed to the sample-approved level and tops trimmed to 25 cm for its crate. The order is 200 accepted stalks, not a weight claim. Provide a stalk-count card and a trim-loss note so the cook can assess the useful aromatic portion. Dried tea leaves, citronella products, essential oil and medicinal uses are excluded.
| Buyer discussion | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| Specification to confirm | Citronella or unidentified scented grass does not fill this culinary order. |
| Output to inspect | Two hundred accepted stalks reconcile to the invoice; leaf waste and failed stalks remain outside revenue. |
| Failure that can defeat acceptance | Weak or wrong aroma |
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
Check source identity and compare a cut 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.