by Meg
Our Farmers Network Project is helping families send their children to school.
We know that in order for children to do well, we need to support parents too. Our project to help farming families in rural Kenya is doing just that – improving access to financial services for farmers, training them in new techniques and empowering them to work together.
We’ve recently seen some great results:
- We established 14 new farmers’ networks, helping communities share knowledge and resources to produce stronger crops for more reliable livelihoods
- 66 farmers were trained in using better pesticides to look after their crops
- 40 farmers were able to visit a national agricultural show, taking part in an interactive demonstration to learn how to use new equipment and more efficient methods to support their farms
- We built five demonstration plots, letting farmers practice their new skills and pilot new crops
- With better access to markets and information, farmers are using their collective influence as a network to get a fairer price for their produce
- By combining their influence as a network, one group even acquired a loan of nearly £4,000 to invest in their farms
With the new income, the farmers can now provide for their children’s education.
Regina, a farmer from Kenya, said:
"We have been learning conservation agriculture and we have already started practicing it on our farm. We are hopeful that this will help more members in the community. The network also helps us avoid the middlemen who have been buying our produce cheaply. By selling as a group we shall grow together and this will help the whole community to improve.”
