The Logistics Center that opened in the Kadamjay district of the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan this spring scored a success, winning a tender to deliver products to the local kindergartens and schools.
In August, the Center submitted a bid for the supply of carrots, onions, and potatoes grown by local farmers to educational institutions across the region. The results were worth the efforts, expectations, and finances invested in establishing the Center: in the first half of the 2023-2024 academic year, it will supply 35.6 tons of vegetables for a total amount of 1.5 million soms for cooking hot meals for children in schools and kindergartens.
Contracts were concluded with five kindergartens located in the towns of Kadamjay and Aydarken, the villages of Birlik and Kotormo, and 55 schools. The Center won almost all the bids for the supply of vegetables to schools. The conditions benefit both parties: schools receive an uninterrupted supply of products that have passed all stages of quality control at a fixed price for the entire contract duration, and the Center, in turn, has a stable sales market.
The supplied products meet the highest quality standards since all necessary conditions have been created in the Center to that end. Vegetables delivered directly from farmers' fields undergo exceptional control. As part of the project, a mobile laboratory was created and handed over to the Kadamjay District Center for Disease Prevention and State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance. All products in the Logistics Center are checked both upon delivery and during the storage period. Eco-friendly, fresh, undamaged vegetables are first kept in the vegetable storehouse and then loaded onto an isothermal van, which delivers them to schools.
In addition to testing products in the Center, the laboratory also supervises the process of school feeding and checks the foods delivered to schools by other suppliers.
It is worth noting that the capabilities of the Logistics Center go beyond quality control, storage, and transportation of products.
Negotiations are underway on the supply of primarily processed products (soup kits) prepared in the Center’s processing unit to schools. Such kits are expected to be in demand. As it turned out, not only schools but also local cafes are interested in getting them, and this will help create an additional market for local farmers to sell their products.
The Logistics Center was built and put into operation by WFP and SIFI as part of a program to optimize school feeding in the Kyrgyz Republic in April of this year. Launched as a pilot project aimed to improve the quality of school feeding and its sustainability, the Center opens up great opportunities for the development of the region: supporting local producers and creating new jobs. If successfully implemented, the Center’s model can be applied in other areas of the country.
In the meantime, the Logistics Center in the Kadamjay district of the Batken region offers a good perspective from expanding the range of products purchased from farmers to building a new storage facility, increasing production capacity, and entering new markets.
In August, the Center submitted a bid for the supply of carrots, onions, and potatoes grown by local farmers to educational institutions across the region. The results were worth the efforts, expectations, and finances invested in establishing the Center: in the first half of the 2023-2024 academic year, it will supply 35.6 tons of vegetables for a total amount of 1.5 million soms for cooking hot meals for children in schools and kindergartens.
Contracts were concluded with five kindergartens located in the towns of Kadamjay and Aydarken, the villages of Birlik and Kotormo, and 55 schools. The Center won almost all the bids for the supply of vegetables to schools. The conditions benefit both parties: schools receive an uninterrupted supply of products that have passed all stages of quality control at a fixed price for the entire contract duration, and the Center, in turn, has a stable sales market.
The supplied products meet the highest quality standards since all necessary conditions have been created in the Center to that end. Vegetables delivered directly from farmers' fields undergo exceptional control. As part of the project, a mobile laboratory was created and handed over to the Kadamjay District Center for Disease Prevention and State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance. All products in the Logistics Center are checked both upon delivery and during the storage period. Eco-friendly, fresh, undamaged vegetables are first kept in the vegetable storehouse and then loaded onto an isothermal van, which delivers them to schools.
In addition to testing products in the Center, the laboratory also supervises the process of school feeding and checks the foods delivered to schools by other suppliers.
It is worth noting that the capabilities of the Logistics Center go beyond quality control, storage, and transportation of products.
Negotiations are underway on the supply of primarily processed products (soup kits) prepared in the Center’s processing unit to schools. Such kits are expected to be in demand. As it turned out, not only schools but also local cafes are interested in getting them, and this will help create an additional market for local farmers to sell their products.
The Logistics Center was built and put into operation by WFP and SIFI as part of a program to optimize school feeding in the Kyrgyz Republic in April of this year. Launched as a pilot project aimed to improve the quality of school feeding and its sustainability, the Center opens up great opportunities for the development of the region: supporting local producers and creating new jobs. If successfully implemented, the Center’s model can be applied in other areas of the country.
In the meantime, the Logistics Center in the Kadamjay district of the Batken region offers a good perspective from expanding the range of products purchased from farmers to building a new storage facility, increasing production capacity, and entering new markets.