Extension Approaches-Innovative Approaches to Extension: The One Acre Fund Method

Written by: Nicholas Daniels, Kenya government relations analyst, One Acre Fund, and Stephanie Hanson, director of policy and outreach, One Acre Fund

 

Lorna Simiyu is a Kenyan farmer, a mother of five who is singlehandedly growing her family out of poverty. Lorna’s day starts early. By 6am she
is preparing breakfast for her children and getting them ready for school. An hour later she has finished milking the cow and collecting eggs, all
before her main activity of the day: weeding a one acre maize field.

Lorna lives some 20 kilometres away from the nearest town. In the past, obtaining good seed and fertiliser at the right time was a challenge for
Lorna, as was getting a loan to purchase them. But in 2011, Lorna joined One Acre Fund, an agriculture organization that provided her with seed
and fertilizer on credit, education and training, and market facilitation. Her 2011 harvest was excellent, which Lorna attributes to planting on time
and learning how to use fertilizer correctly...Read more