Lease two more acres of land and buy inputs for potato farming

Entrepreneur

About Me

My name is Joseph Mbogo. I come from a family of five, three brothers, mum and dad. I am the second born in our family. I have a passion for business. I thank God for giving me strength through trying moments and for His blessings. I have always had a passion for farming and I was motivated by my former colleague who encouraged me to practice farming and to end food security in our country and earn a living. I graduated from the University of Nairobi in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in economics and sociology. Through my savings and borrowed small loans from my relatives, I started farming and it in 2012 on a quarter piece of land. I harvested 10 bags and earned a profit of $45. This encouraged me even more I I decided to invest in farming to better my future. Farming has improved my life especially from zidisha loan. I am very grateful for how you have assisted us and I look forward to maintain the same trust I kept before.

My Business

I am proud to be a farmer and potatoes performs very well in our region. Potato is a staple food in our country and currently is being used to feed starving populations in drought hit areas. I started on an acre piece of land by leasing government land where trees have been cut down just as a give a trial, my first harvest gave me hope to continue farming. Zidisha gave me my first loan and it has helped me so much. I can attest much of my progress has been due to the loan you lent to me. I planted potato seedling on an acre piece of land at $22.5663, and leased the land for $45.1326. It incurred me field operational costs of $ 78.9820. I just sold the potatoes recently and made a net profit of $ 293.362. The total profit was $ 631.856, and I incurred total expenses of about $ 338.494 which included transport, labor, fertilizers, potato seedlings, chemicals to protect the plants from scotching effect of morning frost, and other miscellaneous expenses. The potato farming has little competition since the crop itself is a staple food and is largely consumed in Kenya. There is always a demand for this crop even before it is mature enough for harvesting. Some even ordered my potatoes in advance since the buyers are competing for it. This crop cannot let me down and I am convinced because the climate in our place is very good for planting potatoes. When you will give me another opportunity, I am confident that I will be in position to repay. I also have some saving as a back up incase there will be uncertainties but I am optimistic that I will earn good profit. I thank zidisha and all lenders who supported me in my first loan and for those who did not; I am honored to invite you to fund my current loan. Thank you.

Loan Proposal

Dear lenders, I am very happy to say that I am succeeding in potato farming from the first loan I had taken. I would like to lease two more acres of land and plant potatoes before the planting season passes. I use forest scheme land where I plant crops on a land where trees have been cut down and do farming for about five years before trees are planted again. The forest officer promised to hold two more acres of land for me at a price of $90.6251, plus $45.1326 for the previous one acre land. I have used $56.4157amount from my profit from previous potatoes to prepare the one acre I planted. The following is my budget estimate; potato seedlings- $101.548 for 3 acres of land, DAP fertilizer @ $33.8494 for 50kg/acre, and $101.548 for 3 acres of land, labor cost @ $112.831inclusive of primary cultivation and secondary cultivation, $23.6946/3 acres of Rendomie, a chemical used to spray potatoes so as to protect them from morning frost, the remaining $90.2651and $135.398my present in my reserve will cover any miscellaneous expenses until harvesting. The budgetary allocation covers all field operations from planting to harvesting.
Each of the acres can produce 15 bags of potatoes, which sell at about Ksh. 2800/bag. This is $473.892/acre and $1,421.68in 3 acres of land. I will incur a total cost of $789.820; therefore, I will earn a profit of about $631.856. I am very optimistic this year because I have traders as far as other provinces who have promised to buy my produce when I will harvest and the rainy season has been very accommodating. The soil in our region is very good for potato farming.
I am proud to say that my life has improved, I have at least several bags of potatoes as reserves and have donated five bags to help needy children at ‘Children’s Orphanage rehabilitation Centre’. I am able to support myself and this is possible because of any lender and zidisha team who reached out and helped me. I am thankful for that and I wish in invite every lender towards funding of my loan. YOU ARE ALL WELCOME AND ASANTE SANA.

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