HPN steel buildings will protect harvested crops from rain, pest intrusion and pay for themselves with revenues from the sale of crops previously lost to spoilage in Africa.
PRLog - June 16, 2015 - NEW YORK & LAGOS & JOHANNESBURG -- Today, HPN (Harvest Protection Network) announced it will introduce a program to reduce crop spoilage losses in Africa. The HPN business model will test the premise that revenues from the sale of crops previously lost to spoilage will pay for these buildings.
Members of Africa’s sub-Saharan farming community lose 30%-to-50% of fruits and vegetables because of inadequate storage. While many programs focus on how to increase food production, HPN will focus on protecting what we already grow. In addition to providing waterproof and pest proof storage, these buildings can serve as a distribution center and/or an indoor market. This program also contemplates outright ownership of these buildings by smallholder farmers.
HPN’s founder and owner, Ian Bennett, is a Wharton MBA graduate who has been involved in the business of agriculture in Africa for 40+ years. He is quick to point out that this is not a “handout” program. While participating African countries are not being asked to provide any of the funds to deliver and assemble these buildings, they are being asked to remove any import duty and the participating farmers are being asked to provide the land on which these buildings will be erected.
Preliminary talks with foundations have been characterized by surprise that HPN is not interested in grant funding. “Our immediate challenge is to confirm that these buildings are self-funding.” If this pilot program is successful, HPN will seek a renewable credit facility to make it possible to continue delivering these buildings to Africa’s farming communities. Countries interested in participating in this program should go to the hpn.africa.com website and click on Host Country Registration.
HPN and Africa.com have forged a productive collaboration. “We are in a unique position to help bring awareness to important projects desiring to reach the continent,” said Africa.com CEO, Teresa Clarke. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to follow and document the HPN program.”
About HPN (Harvest Protection Network)
HPN provides custom-designed buildings to meet specific needs like the need to stop crop spoilage losses. The company is also working on an urban garden design to bring young Africans back to agriculture.
About Africa.com
Africa.com is the leading Africa-related website with more than one million monthly views. They distribute 100,000 newsletters each month to subscribers of the highly acclaimed "Africa.com Top10". Africa.com has also developed Go.Africa.com to launch affordable websites, domain names and media/marketing services for entrepreneurs, businesses and passion projects related to Africa. With offices in Johannesburg, Lagos and New York, Africa.com is connecting with Africa like no other company can.
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HPN Program to Reduce Crop Spoilage Losses in Africa
June 16, 2015 at 09:54 AM EDT
