Sustainable Agriculture
and Economic Empowerment
HOPE FARM
Hope Farm was established in 2011. The beneficiaries of a food distribution program by the Nazarene Compassionate Organization sought an alternative solution to the persistent drought and recognized the need to end overreliance on handouts in the form of food distribution. They raised a portion of the funds needed to purchase a piece of land for farming in Lodwar. Servant Forge, along with several partners, walks alongside this group of women by supporting and empowering them to transform desert land into a fruitful and vegetative farm.
The beneficiaries are now able to earn an income from farming in a place where experts thought nothing could grow due to the heat, sandy soil and salinity of water on the farm. Hope Farm is a place where anyone can see that God has been faithful in the aftermath of tragedy by growing blessings in the desert.
Current Needs on the Road to Sustainability
- Intensify compost-making
- Integrate poultry farming
- Refine drip-line irrigation systems
- Install “smart” irrigation systems
- Update and extend existing drip-lines to expand capacity
- Business sustainability training/capacity-building for beneficiaries
Milestones, Achievements & Impacts
- More than 150 direct beneficiaries working on the farm and earning revenue to support their families (85% are women living in the IDP camp)
- More than 700 households are reaping benefits
- Drilled two boreholes; including a second borehole that yields lower-salinity water
- Installed two shade nets and two greenhouses to house high-yielding crops, e.g., tomatoes, spinach, beetroots and green grams (mung beans)
- Installed five 10,000-liter water storage tanks
- Planted more than 1,000 neem and indigenous trees for vegetative cover
- Piped and distributed water over the entire farm; including the installation of drip lines
- Provided irrigation to neighboring community for domestic and livestock use
- Established villages around the project.