Amaranthas: The Hope of Better Life
My idea is based on agriculture being the main source of income to most of the people residing in the rural areas. Amaranthas is a cereal and vegetable crop with all the necessary food nutrients and essential vitamins necessary to boosting the immune system affecting people living with HIV/Aids.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Kuresoi Molo Division
Project City
Nakuru
Project Province/State
Rift Valley
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Kenya
Your idea
Country your work focuses on:
Kenya
Website URL
YouTube Upload
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1-5 years
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
<$50
Name Your Project
Amaranthas: The Hope of Better Life
Describe Your Idea
My idea is based on agriculture being the main source of income to most of the people residing in the rural areas. Amaranthas is a cereal and vegetable crop with all the necessary food nutrients and essential vitamins necessary to boosting the immune system affecting people living with HIV/Aids.
Innovation
Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.
My idea is based on agriculture being the main source of income to most of the people residing in the rural areas. Amaranthas is a cereal and vegetable crop with all the necessary food nutrients and essential vitamins necessary to boosting the immune system affecting people living with HIV/Aids.
What makes your idea unique?
My idea is unique because I have conducted research in my country in the rural and urban areas and discovered that HIV/Aids can be managed if proper diets are taken. Of recent years however there has been an upsurge of HIV infections with medics recommending the in take of ARV with a balanced diet. In Kenya this is far fetched as 60% of Kenyans live with below a dollar a day. Amaranthas is easily digestible with all the necessary vitamins and can now be found in the market as flour, cereal and vegetable. It can be cooked and eaten in any form and the people growing it can utilize it as daily food without a lot of purchases involved. It grows to maturity in 8 weeks and requires little labor once it’s sowed. This translates to it’s been an easy yet highly valued crop as it can generate income at a short time. The pilot project is currently in the 2nd phase of harvesting and so far an acre has yields of unto 1,500kgs hence small and micro farmers can inter crop it with other crops like maize and beans and get a prior harvest before the rest are harvested, this generates more money which can be used to travel to hospitals, pay fees, etc and sustain the family until the next planting season.
What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)
What impact have you had?
I have been able to make reconciliation progress at my home area which was affected adversely by the post election crisis that rocked my country last year. Putting two warring tribes together to work and live has been no mean feat but with the introduction of counseling sessions and showing them how we can farm and improve our livelihoods the healing has slowly been integrated and though every stake holder is making efforts, it’s not easy. They took time to embrace the idea but now are so enthusiastic that we have and are still sowing for the first crop due for harvest in June 2009.
Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.
We don’t have housing and so farming hours are cut short as we still commute to our the trading centre area to look for housing which we pay for but it has no amenities. Security is also still to be restored to its full capacity and it’s only that our spirits can not be broken as we want this to succeed and make our lives better. Getting seeds and farming implements is also hard as we lost everything we ever called our own in the skirmishes. The government has made efforts but we are huge in numbers so these things take time to reach the common man.
Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.
The organization has so far purchased seeds from our own resources which we get from training peer groups about HIV/Aids, entrepreneurship, sex education etc. This has slowed some pilot areas which will have to be put on hold as we don’t have enough funding to sow. We have also carried out agriculture awareness programs to train and facilitate the taking off of the project and now there is an ongoing program on entrepreneurship at our organizations offices.
Impact
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:
Outreach and environmental programs are on going on a bi-monthly basis. We are receiving the necessary support given to us by they affected communities as they are to make the project come to reality and they will benefit from the proceeds which will enable them cultivate more acreage. At these initial stages of the project farm land has been scarce and the one available need lots of reclamation as it had not been utilized for many planting seasons
Success in Year 2:
The community will increase the farming acreage and they will gain by realizing more profits and benefits for the crop has multi purposes. The harvested stalks can be crushed to produce fodder for livestock and also for poultry keeping. The end result is we can store the fodder for periods when there is little grass to graze and also in times of drought and dry spells. The community’s next dependable income is livestock and dairy keeping.
Success in Year 3:
With better proceeds from the amaranthas sales we can now venture into refinery and packaging for marketing to supermarkets, flour millers, children’s homes and hospitals where the flour is used to improve the patient’s diet. Our main target market is people living with HIV/Aids as it improves their health and prolongs life as it easily digestible. We project to start marketing to our cross border neighbors like Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda and also expand on training programs to other communities for their good
Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)
Working on it
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:
Partner with relevant authorities so that we can be able to expand and make the amaranthas a cash crop with hopes to sell it abroad as processed food. These include seeking professionals to assist in mapping out strategies of work and paving way for necessary expansion programs for the good of the community.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:
Participate very actively in corporate social responsibility bearing in mind that most of the community we are working with have affected members of family living amongst them. Hence we as an organization need to reach out and provide the necessary support needed to make every stakeholder feel valued hence raising the living standards of the community
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:
Be committed to ensure that the project attains the necessary levels and encourage team spirit as we are just reconciled to each other and put structures in place which will in the long term be beneficial to the community. We will uphold integrity and equality in our marketing plans so that we can be able to realize our potentials and also endeavor to respect all the people involved in the project
Describe the expected results of these actions.
Our organization seeks to get maximum benefits from the above actions because we will be able to cover as much ground as possible especially in regard to the introduction of amaranth into the Kenyan market. We expect positive results and responses from the stakeholders involved in this initiative. We expect the government on their part to provide security and assurance that we will be able to interact and work together for the good of improving our community and putting back our old homesteads and generally to help alleviate poverty and make us all equal.
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
Empowering communities accessing quality assurance through sustainability and repossessing our lost glory as our community is so far the best in farming potatoes and green peas in the whole country, Kenya. My driving force for this project is to get back on our feet through our own initiatives with the necessary support from our partners. I have been working in various areas in our country as a community development officer and I felt my community had lost hope of ever recovering from the losses we incurred in the post election violence. It is not an easy task I have embarked on but this is my home for the last 40 years and hopelessness had made us feel lost in the world. As we dig and plant we are able to communicate and reminsence the good old days and we are determined to take this to the next level.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
I and my college mates got our selves as trained counselors and started to discuss how we could help our rural people get back to their feet economically and stop losing hope especially after the post election violence. It has been a long and difficult road as vulnerability could have triggered the fresh reactions. We have had to consult continuously attend numerous workshops and conferences to be able to table our idea to the stakeholders involved. However the bottlenecks are there as there are various bureaucracies that have to follow but as we all know the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I believe in my community’s ability to recover and be as self sustaining as they were before and it’s through passion and sheer hard work we have hope that this will have a positive impact in our lives. We need to rebuild our homes and resettle as we know nowhere else to get our income from apart from the farms we own.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Through the print media in the local dailies I decided to email and got the website address which has all the information
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Awareness of the importance of working together irrespective of our backgrounds and cultures. Kenya is complied of diverse cultures and tribes and it’s only through a lot of goodwill that we can overcome our differences and work together. Security is still being upgraded and so far so good as we are able to attend to the farms without interference and we still appeal for more support from the government in this regard. Infrastructure as most of the roads to the rural areas isn’t all weather and could cause delays if there is immediate demand for the said product hence slowing down the supplies. Knowledge of how to plant and care for the plants this needs lots of initial manpower which sometimes isn’t available at short notice.
Financing source
If yes, provide organization name.
Yes. Volunteers of Hope, based in Nairobi
How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)
1-5 years formed after the skirmishes that rocked our country last year.
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes Chairman, Treasurer, secretary, program coordinator and other members.
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)
Yes
The Story
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
We require all the support we can get from our partners in terms of funding, filed extension works, workshops, mobilization for various activities and funding. We are currently working on rehabilitation of sewerage on the outskirts of Nairobi and we are to take the project to the next level. We need our partners because of logistics, professional help and advice from the relevant authorities as we have many ideas but can implement one at a time though with proper structures we can embark on two or three items at a time.
How many people will your project serve annually?
100-1000
What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?
5 employees and over 100 volunteers
What is your organization's business classification?
Non-profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)
None of the above.
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