Adding handpump and protective structure to garden

Entrepreneur

About Me

I am a holder of a Diploma in Environmental Studies and currently undertaking a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible and Theology. I am married with children and looking to establish a farm to raise fresh produce for a huge urban market in Nairobi. I have worked for Nairobi Hospital’s finance department and at Wells Fargo and its sister company Fargo Courier before I left to start on Bible training. I love expository preaching and strongly believe that this is the divine plan to mentor and provide spiritual nourishment to today’s youth and adult alike. I split my time three ways: between my family, farm and fellowship.
I live in Nairobi and I have substantive farming space around our family house, where I already have a strong fellowship gathering. I am currently using the garden as a trial plot to showcase the viable potential of growing vegetables for sale.

My Business

Fuelled by the success of my little kitchen gardening from my first Zidisha loan, I wish to expand production to meet demands. I will need to build more protective structures (wooden frame and net) on my urban farm.
I will use 40 dollars to purchase netting material and poles to build another 10x10 ft protective structure around my cherry tomatoes. The wooden structure will also double up as a frame for climbing strings to develop tomato vines, hence better crop production and management. It turned out that cherries are more resistant to pests, so I have decided to go organic with guano fertilizer (six 50kg bags at 20 dollars). A good roll of twine will cost another 10 dollars. I will also install a 30 dollar micro-irrigation array of pipes to make watering efficient.

Loan Proposal

I have an existing garden from which I harvest vegetables for my domestic needs. Fuelled by the success of my little kitchen gardening, I wish to intensify the use of this and sell fresh produce to my community. The purpose of this will be twofold: to provide me with income and to model the potential of urban farming as a viable means of livelihood. I wish to demonstrate how to use a small living space to grow significant quantities of food. This will offer a practical example to inspire urban job seekers or to anyone who like fresh produce or supplement their incomes.
I will use 40 dollars to purchase netting material and poles to build a 5x12 ft protective structure around my tomato plants. This will mean less spraying of the numeorus insects and larvae that ruin the crop. The wooden structure will also double up as a frame for strings to develop tomato vines, hence better crop production and management. I will also purchase a small handpump (13 dollars) and insecticides (6 dollars) and organic fertilizer (six 50kg bags at 10 dollars) and certified seeds (16 dollars) to plant spinach, kales, brinjals, courgettes, tomatoes and green pepper.

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