Name
John
Member since
January 2015
On-time repayments
126 installments • 9%
I am a teacher, a farmer and a father of five children. I grew up in great difficulties and actually did hard jobs to pay for my college education. I did not want my children to go through the same difficult situation I went through my childhood and therefore I do farming as a business to supplement my little income I get from teaching. My wife helps in my farming activities but she is mostly focused on growing food crops while my focus is cash crops. One of my daughters has just completed university and one of my son is still in high school. The other children completed school not long ago and are establishing their lives. Since the area I live has scarcity of rain, I use donkeys to fetch water from a nearby well, which is a tedious work. Nonetheless, I have the determination to make my farming activity prosper. People in my area are friendly and kind people and we always welcome visitors. I don't have much pastime and most of the time when I am not teaching I engage in farming activities.
My business is fruit farming. I grow grafted mangoes, avocados, lemons and oranges. These fruits are in great demand in my country and give good returns when cared for well. The plants do well in my area after they become established so the only challenge is nurturing the young plant to its maturity. Diseases are easily controllable using the correct chemicals. I make about $2,000 (200,000 KES) in a season. Only the costs of labour and pests and disease control are recurrent costs. Costs of seedling are fixed. I use the profits to grow the farming venture, feed my family, and pay school fees for my children.
At the moment, I have a great financial burden because I have to pay school fees, workers tilling my farm and feed my family. I need the money to purchase pesticides and fungicides (estimated at $30), pay for workers tilling my farm (about $40). About $30 will be used to nurture the young tree plants and will include cost of fertilizers and manure..
Positive
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Neutral
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Negative
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Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$100.00
Date disbursed
Jan 5, 2015
Repayment status
Late
Projected term
29 months
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