My Name Is Agnes Vivian but Vivian is what many call me.. I come from a place known as kano plains in Nyanza Province Kenya.. My home is at Ahero Tura Village .I come from a humble family of 6 siblings. I am married with 2 beautiful children a 8year old boy and a 13 month old daughter.I work as a Customer Care associate for Bridge international academies. I started my business to supplement my income. With two children and siblings dependent on me there's a lot to be bought, purchased and bills to be paid for. Also coming from a family where my mum is a primary school teacher and not paid as much i have a

responsibility of helping out with my siblings so farming is a major lifeline

Coming from an area known of “failed” Rice farming (Ahero)

my mum and i took the mandate of using the irrigation

scheme as a lifeline for a source of income. I started Mixed

farming (Mboga both European and traditional) .Capsicum

(green bell peppers)., tomatoes and Onions and yellow

passion fruit by the riverbank of Nyando river. We have a

farm at the river that we use but we also rent 1 other farm

for about 5,000 shillings every three months.. The reason I

decided to do mixed farming was so that when one crop is

out of season another is blooming so we do not have the

land left empty.

Farming is a good source of income in our area since its

mostly dry and the people appreciate fresh farm produce.

Since I am on full time employment and not able to travel

frequently, we have a farm manager who is paid something

small to help take care of the farm.When free i travel over

the weekend to oversee the progress of the farms. During

dry season we pump water from the river. I invested in 2

generated water pumps to assist with this.

During harvesting period we do not take our product to the

market to cut on transportation expenses but we let the

buyers come to us. They are at the farm as early as 6.am to

get the producethemselves. For all mbogas(leafy

vegetables) we sell per sack at a rate of between1000-1500,

for tomatoes and onions , green bell peppers(hoho) we sell

per crate between 700-1800 depending on season and

product demand. We have set aside specific days for the

harvesting to give breathing time to the crops.

We get our advice from the local horticulturalist and they

also advise us on the best product i.e manure and

ferterlizers to use for our crops. Our main expense goes to

ploughing the land either by tractor or a yolk pulled by

cows, Fertilizers and fuel for the generator.

My main aim of getting a loan is to expand our business .

By this I mean rent more land, get more seeds, plant more

crops hence more returns. I joined Zidisha to help my dream

come true I am also planning to venture into rice farming as

I have tried it before.

I do believe a great mind is a great potential but only when

the ideas are put in action . This world needs risk takers

and big dreamers doesn’t it?

This will be my second time taking a loan with zidisha

After much research i found out that the use of drip irrigation will enable our farm produce have sufficient water coverage therefore maximize on the harvest.This will enable me to grow more vegetables with much less water. This will also help me reduce on labour cost and the cost of fuel that i use on the water pump each day to water the farm, meaning i can put the money into other use.The who set up will cost me around 120,000 kenyan shs/1400 USD for a 2 acre piece of land

For my drip system i will need 4 main equipments

a storage water tank,

lateral,

emitter pipes,

Filter etc

My loan will be used to buy a 3400 litre Roto water tank that will be used to store the irrigation water.

The tank cost is 25,000 ksh an equivalent of around 278 USD.

The rest of the project i will fund with the savings that i have received from my previous harvest a month ago. With this system installed i see my vegetables sales going up by 20-30 percent.Some farmers in my area are already using this system which has turned very effective.

I will appreciate help from all the lenders who will support me and promise to keep you updated on my project