This year MANDO launched an effort wherein farmers grow their way out of poverty. MANDO's plan provides training, tools, non-genetically modified seeds for staples such as maize and beans as well as help selling the harvest if there is a surplus or storing it. In-kind loans are guaranteed by peers.
50 first-time Maasai farmers
+ 8 acres
+ training/mentors
+ wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels, fencing and seed
= 750 children with food they don't ordinarily have
More experienced farmers train newcomers in planting, composting, weeding and harvesting. At the end of the planting season each farmer contributes crops that will enable the charity to raise funds to be able to support more farmers the next season.
This year's launch involved 50 farmers - half of them women (responsible for 750 children). The program cost 760,600 kenyan shillings/USD 8,700 with 100% of donations going directly to the program. Fifty percent of field expenses are expected to be covered by farmer repayments. By 2015 the goal is 1,000 farmers, by 2020, 5,000. How you can help.
This growing program needs to GROW more – and can with your help.
Donate directly from our donations page.
Experience this innovative project in person by helping out. People with agricultural expertise are especially needed. Weeders are welcome.
What? Aren't the Maasai nomadic herders, not farmers? Aren't growing conditions nearly impossible in their lands?
The two questions are closely related. Granted, desertification has worsened in Maasai lands in south Kenya due to climate change and over population. But as MANDO's trial program has shown, when harnessed sustainably, Kenya's expansive dry lands can offer lasting solutions to food, water and energy deficits. The realization is that the tribes must incorporate agriculture to survive. It can be done using plant species that can thrive under this kind of stress and getting water to them – by capturing rain water, using spring water when it can be found and terracing.
After a highly successful initial season, MANDO's goal is 100 farmers the second year, and 150 the third. Each additional farmer requires KES 47750/USD 550 per person to undertake his or her own farming.