One Acre Fund

MODEL: Our project makes profitable investments in smallholding farmers. Because these farmers literally use zero existing capital (other than a $4 hand tool), capital investments have extraordinarily high returns. We expect to grow our farmers' existing annual food yield from $60 (subsistence farming) to $2,000 (high-value farming) within four years, using an investment of $500 per year. These are highly realistic returns verified by our agricultural experts, and more importantly, actually realized by other members of the community. We will capture a portion of these financial returns, as investment partners together with the farmers.

Our investment involvement includes 1) Capital on credit: seed and fruit tree stems, fertilizer, and water access. 2) Education: weekly education on farm techniques delivered in the farmers' own fields, 3) Market access, making it possible for farmers to obtain cash for their surplus, and start a savings-and-investment cycle.

CUSTOMERS: We deliberately select a target customer that is severely affected by hunger, in order to maximize our human impact. Our typical farmer suffers from consistent crop failure, farming on badly-depleted soil, using zero capital on her farm. As a result, her family suffers an annual 1-6 month "hunger season" during which a flour-water paste is taken to survive, thin enough to drink. The majority of our farm families have suffered at least one childhood death. Children sleep on blankets in the dirt.

Victims of generational poverty face multiple, challenging barriers. The reason that our service is attractive to these families is that we offer a comprehensive "service bundle" that addresses their unique needs. 1) Capital: as discussed above, we make it possible to access seed and fertilizer on credit, something families would not be able to afford otherwise. 2) Education: we bundle capital together with education on proper farming techniques, which is absolutely critical for our clients. 3) Markets: we make it possible for farmers to sell food surplus, which was not previously possible. This makes savings-and-investment possible, or a lasting path out of poverty.

MARKETING: We partner with existing women's self-help groups (women do the majority of farming in Kenya). Women's groups are a common community empowerment association in the developing world, and are so well-organized, that they are even used as a product distribution channel for household goods (e.g., Unilever).

In our project area, we are currently working with three women's self-help groups, to reach 40 farmers (and their 200 children). These women's groups have recruited, screened, and "pre-organized" our members into small sub-groups of five farmers each. Essentially, these groups create a stable customer base for us, making it relatively easy to provide services. There are hundreds of women's self-help groups in our demonstration project area alone.

COMPETITION: Other development organizations such as microfinance, or agricultural development organizations certainly have a lasting, anti-poverty impact. However, what is little-known is that they do not tend to work with an "ultra-poor" population. For example, credit (for farm inputs) without education is likely to be mis-used by the extremely poor population we work with. Our innovation is to bring the multiple services of microfinance and agricultural development, into a comprehensive bundle that addresses all of the unique barriers faced by the "ultra-poor." For this reason, we are really the only organization in our area that even considers working with our target customer.

PARTNERS: We have engaged several active partners. Tim Chole (Kenya Maize Development Program, USAID) lives in our project area and provides our technical expertise, field officer staffing referrals, and staff training. Patrick Gathitu (Horticultural Development Authority, Kenya) provides advice on higher-value crops. Simon Kubeka (Ministry of Agriculture) is the local head of agriculture for the Kenyan government and has been helpful in introducing our project to local political leaders.

FUNDING: I have previously raised $50,000 in funds for a non-profit organization, and I have engaged an active volunteer, John Yi, who has previously raised $100,000 in start-up capital for his business, and $250,000 in charitable funds. We are well on our way towards a comprehensive financing strategy that will initially rely on individual contributions.

Although we will have some employment impact, our primary human impact is our impact on the clients that we directly serve. Within two years, we will be working with 690 farmers, indirectly impacting the 3,400 children living in their families.

These figures are small for a developing country project, but we will have a deep impact with our "ultra-poor" customers. In this two-year time period, we expect to increase average household income from $60 per year to $300 per year (including accounting for increased capital costs). Given the extreme nature of the hunger experienced by these families, we expect to reduce under-five child deaths from 18% to 10% within two years, with further progress expected in the future. We expect immediate age-normal height and weight gains among all of our children. We expect near-elimination of low birthweight among newborn babies.

In the medium-term, our involvement with our clients will continue to deepen (before we eventually phase our involvement out to encourage self-sustainability). We will make increasing investments in food yields, transitioning farmers from subsistence crops only to high-value fruit trees. We expect household income to further grow to $2,000 per family. This kind of income will make it possible for families to afford permanent housing, and school fees for secondary education of their children.

In the long-term (10 years), we plan to reach 50,000 farmers (plus the 250,000 children living in their families), with a similar human impact.