Farm Africa’s Maendeleo Agricultural Enterprise Fund (MAEF) helps small innovations become big successes that can benefit thousands of rural farmers and their families. And our partnership with Mwailu Enterprises in Kitui county, is no exception.

Struggling to make ends meet

62-year-old grandmother Cecilia would frequently see her maize crops wither and die, leaving her with no food and no income.

“I had land but I had no income. We were planting a lot of maize but still we were not getting enough to eat let alone enough to sell.”

She turned to growing sorghum, as an alternative. But instead of growing the traditional red variety that can be sold at the market, the team from Mwailu Enterprises have helped her to start growing a white variety that grows faster and produces a bigger yield.

Sustainable income through a functioning market

The team at Mwailu buy Cecilia’s sorghum directly from her, and do the same with hundreds more farmers in the area, before selling it in bulk to major brewing companies. With Mwailu making a small profit from every kilogram, they have a great incentive to help sorghum farmers access high-quality seeds and train them to grow as much as they possibly can. And what’s very clear is that everyone is benefiting!

Cecilia receives a good price too: from three harvests she has earned over £1,200 from growing the white sorghum to sell to Mwailu. And her life couldn’t have changed more dramatically for the better.

When we interviewed her for this story we asked Cecilia how the project had changed her life. She laughed, pointed at a huge water tank on top of a beautiful stone house and said

“We have plumbing, water everywhere in the house, my grandchildren are going to good schools and I can hire people to help me on my farm. My life has completely changed.”

Please give £120 to help give another group of farmers the training and support they need to grow themselves out of poverty.