Mercy never planned to become a farmer. She dreamed of going to college and getting a professional job. But, she couldn't afford tuition.
At 19, she married her husband, Robert, and soon settled down to raise their four children in Bomet, Kenya.
She planted a small plot of corn to help make ends meet.Unfortunately, her husband’s small business was not enough to cover their needs. And with little rain, her corn barely grew.
Mercy persisted, planting kale on a small piece of land in the backyard. Without irrigation, she would carry heavy buckets of water to and fro, trying her best to make it all work. It was excruciating labor.
“It was hard work carrying the jerry cans since my water source is a bit far and uphill. I used to get muscle aches all the time, especially when I combined irrigating the farm with other heavy house chores.”
Then, she received an irrigation pump.Mercy quickly planted beans and cabbage. Borrowing pipes from a neighbor, she was able to connect the pump to a distant water source.
From her first sale of cabbage, she earned a whopping 50,000 Kenyan shillings (worth nearly $500 USD).
Keep in mind, that most rural farmers in Kenya earn $150 USD in an ENTIRE YEAR. She did all this in one harvest.
She took 30,000 KS and invested in a poultry business, which she says is doing well.
"I did not know there were pumps that small farmers like me could use and irrigate. For me, only big farms did irrigation with enormous machines. The few people I had seen irrigate around here were just using buckets."
Mercy wanted to ensure you knew how grateful she is for the irrigation pump and training. And share that her children no longer help on her farm. Now, her extra income is keeping them in school. She said, "Now, they can focus on their studies."
Mercy is not an outlier. She's one of the thousands of farmers who have increased their harvest by 400% with access to an affordable irrigation pump, designed for farmers like her.
Thank you so much for seeing her potential. And giving thousands of people like her, a pathway out of poverty. We are so grateful you are part of our community.
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