I am a 23-year old university student at Moi University in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County. i come from Elgeyo-Marakwet county where I was raised in a family and Community with a rich agricultural background thus my passion for, not only agriculture but the more comprehensive Agribusiness. I did my Primary education in Eldoret and proceeded to sunshine school in Nairobi for my Secondary education. Despite this, I always maintained a deep bond with my parents farming activities.

However, after years of watching the unreliable and sometimes inadequate rainfall cause suffering to the community for so long , i decided that their must be an alternative source of farming income other than the traditional maize and wheat. that is how I settled on irrigation-based horticulture.

I generally plant and supply horticultural produce, mainly tomatoes and cabbages. I practice open-air and greenhouse irrigation farming thus am able to produce all year round. this crops also have a short maturity period of 3 months thus are very good income generators.

tomatoes and cabbages are important vegetables that are in high demand by most households in the country thus are in high demand

Typical costs include land ploughing costs, costs of seeds, casual labor costs such as weeding and costs of chemicals such as pesticides and insecticides

most profits is ploughed back into the business since i have a 3-acre farm which is not yet fully utilized

If my loan application is successful, I will buy two knapsack sprayers at a cost of $45 each. this will come to a total of $90 and will be very helpful since the tomatoes are sprayed weekly. I will also buy fungicide known as Milraz. this goes for $52 for a 5 kilogram packet. This will be sufficient until the crops are harvested. Being the rainy season, the fungicide has to be applied weekly so as to guard against frost. I will spend around $10 on safety garments such as gloves, gumboots and overcoats for safety during spraying. I will use the balance of about $30 to meet part of the costs for casual labor which is normally about $5 per day for part time workers.

During harvesting, I usually sell tomatoes to the local people directly from the farm at considerably lower prices than in the market. The project also involves labor which benefits the people who provide the labor as they get some income. The tomatoes when sold generate a healthy profit which provides me with income.

I have increased the area under cultivation and expect to harvest 150 crates of tomatoes which i sell at $21 which translates to a revenue of $3150. I expect total costs not to exceed $1000 thus giving me a profit of $2150. I may however not be able to fully meet these costs at the moment and hence I hope to get this loan to facilitate the deficit.