Watermelon & tomato farming... and raising poultry

Benard

Kakrigu, Kenya

100% repaid

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How it Works

Entrepreneur

Name

Benard

Member since

April 2015

On-time repayments

232 installments • 68%

About Me

I was born in 1977 in the Island of Rusinga, Kakrigu Village in Waware South Sub Location, Rusinga East Location. I was raised in the village where my father was a small scale fisherman and practiced peasantry in the small family land. The hardships that I saw my parents undergo influenced not to be after formal forms of employment but to engage in agriculture. This is one area that I realised many people do not venture into opting to fishing that is widely practised. However the depletion of fish species influenced me to diversify the economic activity from the mainstream fishing to farming.
In the few years that I have engaged into this sector I have discovered the 'gold' that is hidden here and I want to expand it to greater levels. I get inspired when the whole of my family, during spare time we spend a lot of our time in the farm and enjoy doing it together. My children comment that they want to buy a tractor when they grow up to aid me in ploughing instead of the conventional hoes that we use. A lot of our free time is spent in the garden and imagine the taste of a paw paw juice one hot day!!!!

My Business

Rusinga Island where I live is surrounded by the vast Lake Victoria Waters. Despite the availability of the vast waters food security has always been a challenge. The changing weather patterns have adversely affected agricultural production in the community hence low production of food crops.
In response to this challenge I decided to venture into horticultural farming where I grow cabbages, onions, tomatoes and other fast maturing food crops.
Horticultural farming has proved to be very profitable as the demands for the products are high from middle men/women who buy from my farm in bulk and resell to consumers. I occasionally sell to consumers direct which is as well profiting.
I used the proceeds from my farm in paying school fee for my children, buy school uniforms and other family supplies. I am also relieved from buying most of the food that I use at home as they are got directly from my farm.
I thank Zidisha for their support using the previous loan to cultivate the additional piece of land that I acquired and the harvest was equally bountiful.
I got a lot of support from the proceeds as my children's school fee were smoothly settled, I can now do some Christmas shopping for my family and daily meals weren't a bother as I could buy that which I did not have. Surely Zidisha is transforming lives!
I have realised that agriculture is as paying even more than mainstream jobs. I want to raise up a fence made up of barbed wire as the temporary fence I raised is weak and cannot keep the marauding animals away. At the same time a fence will keep intruders away. From the proceeds of the last harvest and an addition from yet another loan from Zidisha I hope my dreams will accomplished.
Because of the strong El-nino rains I feel I should diversify and as well try a hand in poultry rearing. It is also one project that my feasibility study has proved to be as profitable and in demand.
It is for this reason that I have a fall back in Zidisha because my savings may not be sufficient. An additional Zidisha loan added to my savings will enable me therefore to buy the materials needed like cedar poles, nails, barbed wire, pay for the labourers, raise up a structure for the chicks and buy some feeds. I understand that it is a demanding venture that will require a lot of financial input and commitment but I believe I am upto the challenge.
I therefore appeal for support from the worthy partners once again as I prepare to launch the next phase of my projects.

Loan Proposal

let me start by thanking zidisha org for the continued financial support for the last past three loans i have benefited from. I would like to request for the fourth one. if my request goes through, I would spend the money in my new project of water melon farming which at this time of the season have greater demand both in the National and our nearby local markets. this is the best season for them. I had tried this before and realised some great achievement. with the help of my newly bought generator, I believe i will be able to do a wonderful job. harvested matured melons are weighed in kilos and a kilo goes up 200/=,that translates to some good money if a farm is properly managed the way I'm planning to organize my horticultural work. I have already hired a farm for this project, the farm is well located just by lake shore. since my poultry farming is also registered some good progress, I plan to introduce also broilers, I intend to construct a different house or rather structure for that new project. right now I'm now I'm able to supply efficiently eggs to my hometown, they like my eggs because of their sizes ,many of my customers say that, my eggs are good also fetching them some good name to their own customers. my family also is not left behind, they have proper diet of eggs and this have boosted my family income. part of this income have enabled me to pay school fees for their education. this has been successful because of the generosity and support from zidisha, many have admired this and they have requested me to introduce them to zidisha, to which I started doing right away. kindly support me again for the next loan. thanks a lot. this is how I intend to use the money,
5 packets melon seeds@4000= 20000/=
2packets spraying pesticides @800 =1600/=
land preparation cost 7000/=
poultry
purchase of new broilers 5000/=
transportation 1400/=
Total =35000/=