Updated Jan 15, 2021
Hichem Mihoub
Send MessageFocus Areas:
Agriculture, Agriculture Water Management and Resilience
Implemented In:
Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and 13 MoreSEE ALL
80% of the poor in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) are small-scale, rain-fed farmers, scraping out an existence on small plots of land, at the mercy of the rain. 1 of 4 are struggling with chronic hunger, which threatens to grow worse as the population grows (Sub-Sahara Africa’s population will double by 2050). Theses farmers plant when it rains and all harvest at the same time. They flood the markets and ~40% of their harvest spoils before it is eaten or sold. In the off-seasons prices are high and hunger haunts the land, and when rains fail due to climate change they lose everything. Moving them from rain-fed farming to irrigated farming, they can grow and sell crops throughout the year, greatly increase their incomes, save their rain-fed crops when rains fail and take a major step out of poverty. With only ~4% of the farmland in SSA that is irrigated compared to 40% across Asia and 48% in India (IFPRI-Irrigating Africa 2010)—the potential for change is huge.
KickStart believe that irrigated farming through affordable small-scale irrigation systems is the most efficient way to quickly enable millions of people in SSA to make money and climb out of poverty. KickStart designs, mass-produces and promotes unique, high-quality, low-cost, MoneyMaker-branded irrigation pumps that enable farmers to move from ‘rain-fed subsistence farming’ to ‘commercial irrigated agriculture’. KickStart sells the pumps through a local private sector supply chain, and uses its gross margins and donor funds to reach and educate farmers, and educate partners and policy makers, about the impacts of irrigation. Farming Families that use our Pumps boost net farm income by 400% on average, increase investment in livestock, improved housing, and education, mitigate the effects of climate change