Tomato farming for livelihood and college fees
Lydiah
Gitare, Embu, Kenya
46% repaid
Entrepreneur
Name
Lydiah
Member since
December 2014
On-time repayments
54 installments • 24%
About Me
I had a dream when I was a child: to be a teacher like my parents. Obviously, my dreams changed along the way and I realized education was important for me to realize my dream. All was well until I completed my high school. At that time, my parents retired and my father became a drunkard to the extent that education for his children was not a priority. So I missed college education. But my determination landed me a small job as a non-teaching staff at a local school. I taught my self and with the help of friends to use a computer. Since the salary hardly covers my basic needs, I thought of farming tomatoes to supplement my income. I come from an area that economy is largely dependent on agriculture. The climate is suitable for farming and rain is high. Generally, the people are friendly and welcoming. I have no children yet but would love to be stable when I get so that they can have a better life and education than I had.
My Business
I practice Tomato farming as a business. I plant the tomatoes and time so that I am able to sell when demand is high and so that I am able to get high profits. The advantage I have for my business is availability of water and a reliable market. The majors costs are the labour costs. The costs of seeds and other materials are minimal. I make about $300 (30,000 KES) per harvest. I use the money to reinvest in the business and was saving little in a local cooperative with the intention of getting a loan to fund my college studies. However, the cooperative's loan is a bit expensive and the fact that I am not given the savings when asking for the loan is a great limitation.
Loan Proposal
I intend to use the money to purchase fertilizers (approx. $44), pesticides and pesticides (approx. $20), and pay for labour and selling the produce (approx. $40). The loan will be of great help to me because it will allow me to plants and mature the plants at the correct timing. Although I am not able to give the exact figures, I predict that this will allow me to increase the profits.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$100.00
Date disbursed
Jan 1, 2015
Repayment status
Late
Projected term
12 months
Lenders
Australia
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