When One Acre Fund’s farmers harvest their first season with us, many of them are surprised at how dramatic their increase in yield is. These farmers become enthusiastic advocates of One Acre Fund, and their enthusiasm is contagious. When neighboring farmers see their fields and talk to them, they often decide to join our organization. On a recent field visit to Rwanda, I met one of our farmer advocates. When he saw me walking toward his farm, he leapt up a hill, pants tucked into his rainboots, to greet me and guide me down the path to his fields.
“Look at these beans,” Ephram said, gesturing all around us. Indeed, his beans looked robust and healthy. I complimented him on his planting technique.
“So many farmers in this area are now interested and want to join One Acre Fund because they have seen my fields,” he told me. “Even my older brother has decided to sign up!”
He pointed two hills over to his older brother’s fields, and we started talking about the harvest that had convinced his brother to join One Acre Fund. In his first season, Ephram planted 15 pounds of bean seed. With that improved seed, he harvested almost 300 pounds of beans—a record harvest. Previously, he had harvested about 140 pounds of beans. With the money Ephram earned from his bumper harvest, he purchased three goats.
He showed me the goats with pride, and told me he was hoping to buy a cow after his next harvest. Our farmers often want to invest in livestock after achieving a great harvest, both because they can sell the livestock later to make a profit, and because if they face an emergency and need cash quickly, they can always find a buyer for a cow or a goat.
I asked Ephram how things had changed for him and his family since he joined One Acre Fund.
“I have enough food for my children, and now I can buy clothes for them too,” he told me.
Ephram has two children of his own, but he also cares for two adopted children. I could see a crease of worry on his forehead when we discussed his children—the sign of a father who wanted to provide everything he could for them.
But Ephram wasn’t only concerned about his own family. He wanted the whole community to benefit from increased harvests. When I asked him about his plans for the future, he said, “Before joining One Acre Fund, no one could grow more than 200 pounds of beans. Now people can grow up to 400 pounds. I want to mobilize other farmers so they will be like I am today.”
Evans Libeya, One Acre Fund’s horticulture manager, is in charge of executing One Acre Fund’s agricultural trials in Kenya. Evans typically leads four or five experiments at a time, testing things from seed quality to spacing to fertilizer dosage. It’s a busy job, but someone’s gotta do it. 