One Acre Fund

Mother. Farmer. Leader. Businesswoman. All-round inspiration 🤩 Bahati Mkumbwa, 31, is one of the farmers we’re privileged to work with in Ileje, Tanzania. She joined our program in 2018 and leads the Nufaika farming group in her village. She grows maize 🌽, beans and sunflower 🌻 on her 1-acre farm, and has been enjoying increasing harvests, going from 3 bags to 11 bags of maize last season! She’s put the profits from selling her surplus harvest to good use, buying roofing sheets to complete the construction of her house. She’s since been able to move her family from a rental into their new house 🏠👏🏽 And she doesn’t plan to stop there – she intends to go into livestock rearing alongside running her small business selling foodstuff. You inspire us Bahati!

Meet Winston, one of the farmers we work with in Mbozi, Tanzania. Aged 52, he’s been working with us for three seasons now, growing maize 🌽, beans and coffee ☕ on his 3-acre farm. With the knowledge and access to quality seed and fertilizer, he’s been able to nearly double his harvest, from 8 to 15 bags of maize per acre of land. With the profits he’s been making from selling his surplus harvest, he’s bought more land and a dairy cow, which earns him an extra Tsh108,000 (around $47) 💰 every month. Hongera Winston! We’re rooting for you!

As it turns out, a tasty meal that might have been missing from your menu is yellow beans 😋😅 Talikisya, a 63-year old farmer from Iringa, Tanzania, has been taking part in a trial for new beans varieties, and her family has been enjoying the fruits of her labour, literally 😂 Have you had yellow beans, perhaps with some chapati or rice 🍚, lately? Let us know!

This year, our team in Tanzania has been trialing three new beans varieties with select farmers – 𝘶𝘺𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘫𝘢𝘯𝘰 (yellow beans), 𝘫𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢 and RWR 2154. One of the farmers who has been a beneficiary of this trial is Andrea, a 69-year old farmer from Iringa. According to him, the yellow beans are a particular favourite because they performed well on the field, from germination to harvest, and fetch higher prices in the market. And they taste great 😋😅 "I enjoy being a part of this trial. I’ve learnt new techniques that are always helpful in improving my farming," he says.

𝐐: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞? Others: 🤗🎁💑🛠💬💞 Us: 🥑😍 These avocados will be ready in around a couple of months! Steven Njiru has over 100 avocado trees on his farm in Embu, Central Kenya, and that sight is pretty much our happy place 😅 He expects to begin harvesting in October, and we… sorry, he, can’t wait! He’s expecting a profitable harvest despite a long, cold season.

🌽 >1 bag 📈 8 bags 🌽🌽 For Marie, one of the farmers we serve in Ngoma District, Rwanda, the ability to get her quality seed and fertilizer on credit and in good time to plant ahead of the rains, was a welcome relief. Just as important was the training on modern planting techniques and the support she received from her field officer throughout the season. Since joining our program in 2015, she’s increased her harvest from less than 1 bag of maize and 2 bags of beans to 8 bags of maize and 4 bags of beans. 👏🏽👏🏽 She joined a savings group and has been setting aside $30 each month, and she recently spent her savings on purchasing a cow 🐄. Marie, and other smallholder farmers in Rwanda, are the backbone of the country’s agriculture – they account for around 70% of food production. We celebrate her, and the 600,000 farmers we serve in the country, in this year’s #UmuganuraDay festivities! Check out the link in our stories for more!

Why do we like harvest season, you ask? Well, swipe right for some wholesome #TBT content! 😍👉🏽

“When I joined, my harvest increased to 8 tonnes of potatoes 🥔🥔. I felt so happy because I had never had such a harvest before,” says Pascasie, one of the farmers we serve in Musanze, Rwanda. Pascasie, 39, grows Irish potatoes and beans on her 1.5-acre farm. Previously, she’d have to farm without using quality farm inputs since it wasn’t always possible to buy all the seed and fertilizer she needed upfront. Now she's able to do that and also credits her bumper harvest to the training on modern planting techniques that she got from her Field Officer. “This increase was not only because of the fertilizer, but also the training on improved planting techniques I learned from my Field Officer. They also introduced me to growing climbing beans, and I harvested 60 kilograms in my first season. My kids love beans!” 🍲 She sold the surplus harvest and bought sand and cement to renovate her house 🏠 👏🏽

Scenes like these are why we love harvest season 🥰🤩 Meet Fadhili Mbuba, a 46-year old farmer from Ileje, Tanzania. He joined our program in 2018 and has gradually increased the size of his farm from 1 to 3 acres. "I have never been able to sell green maize before. But since enrolling, I can sell some and still harvest 12 bags of dry maize at the end of the season," Fadhili says. Looks like he’s pretty excited about his harvest this season too! 💪🏽

Our teams at our tree nurseries in Karongi and Ngororero districts in Rwanda are hard at work, preparing tree seedlings 🌱 for farmers 👨🏽‍🌾👩🏽‍🌾 to collect in a few months’ time. We’ve been ramping up our agroforestry program in the country since we launched in 2010, and we now work with more than 14,000 extension agents to distribute tree seedlings to villages. Last year, the farmers we served planted more than 24 million trees across the country 🙂 🌳🌳

📂 Things you love to see 😍 ↳ 📂 Bumper Harvests 🌽🌽 ↳ 📂 Tanzania ↳ 📂 Simon Mtafya Simon, a farmer from Ileje, Tanzania, has been part of our program since 2018. He initially farmed on one acre, but has since increased that to three acres. Getting all the quality seed and fertilizer he needed without having to pay upfront has been the gamechanger for him. "Now that I get input on credit, I can use the money I have at the beginning of the year for my children schooling," he says.

Things that would make you smile like this: ✔ The pizza 🍕 delivery guy at your doorstep ✔ A text 📳📥 or hug 🤗 from the right person 😍 ✔ Walking 🚶🏽‍♀️ out of the office on a Friday 🥳 For our team in Tanzania, it’s a promising harvest from their shamba darasa 🌽 Introduced last season, the shamba darasa plots are meant to help train our field staff and test various crops and farming practices, including spacing and fertilizer and lime application. There are currently four of these in Njombe, Ileje, Mbozi, and Wanging'ombe District.