Greenhouse Project

Greenhouses are used for commercial applications in many African countries, but are new to small village farmers in Kenya. A greenhouse allows the farmer to control the supply of water both during the dry seasons and during torrential rains, which can wash away seeds or crops. A greenhouse also reduces the number of diseases and pests that can cut output. The farmer is thus able to grow nutritious vegetables (green peppers, kale, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, etc.) year-round. Selling produce surplus to her family’s needs also generates income to take care of medical, educational and other supplies which require cash.

In 2008, a widows’ group in Bondo, Kenya approached Hands Up Out Of Poverty™ for funding to implement this concept as a way to supply stable employment and income security to their members. We teamed up with the local St. Andrew Catholic Church who offered a design concept, a willing volunteer agronomist to assist the widows, and some land on the church grounds. We supplied the money for plastic sheeting, nails, pedal-powered water pumps, sprayers, some main frame timbers and piping for a drip irrigation system, as well as some seeds to plant the first crops.

After about a year and a half of successful operation, the widows presented us with a proposal to fund a 10,000-litre water tank which would harvest water from the chapel’s sheet metal roof during the rainy season, and allow them to purchase water at wholesale prices, if necessary, during the dry season. Their concept is working well. They have used funds generated from their operation to start their own small poultry project and are paying the school fees for 26 secondary school students in their care.

Other groups in the Bondo area have learned from this widows’ group and started their own garden greenhouses. We have supported another larger greenhouse project for a church widows’ group in Muhoroni, and learned from experience to supply the water tank at the beginning of the rainy season when there is an ample supply of water to harvest from a nearby building with a sheet metal roof.