Miriam Kimani ( 48 ) of the Kariki Juja Farm in Kenya started out as a packhouse manager in 2004 , later became production director , and then one of the first Kenyan distaff farm managers in 2017 . A farm coach has a lot of responsibilities . Miriam : “ My central use is to oversee all the farm operations . At the goal of the daytime I am responsible for all of the sections , so I have to be cognisant of what is bechance . I support the production handler and post - harvest director to make indisputable that everything is running as it should be . This is my day - to - solar day work . In the lag , I have to check that that we meet the market demand and that we are persist at a profit . ”
Market demandMeeting the marketplace demand may be a challenge , but Miriam is well-chosen with this newfangled practice . “ Before we were working with market requirement , we lacked some intention . We were unsure of how much we would be able-bodied to betray , and when the market wanted which flowers . It was always a scrap of a guess , and therefore a risk . Now we are growing flush that we know the market place will want to grease one’s palms . This gives us a lot more protection . We even lie with the approximate price we can anticipate , so that has made budgeting and design a fate easier . We have a set more clarity now , ” Miriam state . “The securities industry need is set for the whole Marginpar grouping , so we sit down together and divide the production . We postulate to mould out which crop will go to which farm . ” This depends highly on the mood , but also the outer space usable at each farm . It is the farm manager ’s responsibility to take the correct crops . Miriam : “ raw harvest are exciting to raise , but also come with doubt . Despite that , we like trying raw product and setting new trends . The mathematical product development domain also supply a lot of support . ”
One big groupThis collective focus has really helped the coaction of the unlike farms in Africa . Miriam : “ We had awesome workshops about corporate focusing and ‘ seeing the same Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ’ . Before this grooming , every farm was only concerned about its own carrying into action . Now we see that whatever happens on other farm also affects us .
Whenever a problem arise at a farm , other farm manager will attend to , because it is the grouping ’s job . The same shift has pack place within the farms . The department used to work independently and could sometimes have unlike goals in head . For instance , yield would need to produce as many halt as potential and would sometimes rush it . Our time value adders in the packhouse would then get a lot of stem turn that did not assemble the quality criterion and would have to reject them . The troupe would hurt . Now , when there is a character issue , we get to the root cause together and fix it together . We really support each other . ”
invert the hierarchy triangleThis newfound team spirit is also reenforce by ‘ Hamuka ’ , which is a practice they start seven year ago . “ The principle of Hamuka is trust , and we inverted the hierarchy trilateral . Instead of handler state the time value adders what they need to do , the value common viper are taking their own responsibility and are tell the managers what they necessitate to be able to do their task decently , " Miriam says .
" Over the course of the seven geezerhood we have been implementing this , we have arise from producing 10 million stems per twelvemonth to 25 million stems per year on this farm alone . ”
Miriam keeps aiming for more : “ We are go in the right direction and are expanding very fast . I see this society going very far in the next few years . For me personally , the sky is the limit . If there is another step to go up , I will take up the challenge . I am very ambitious to take the ship’s company to the next level . ”
