About Ace Africa
Action in Community Environment in Africa (ACE Africa) is a registered NGO in Kenya and is part of the Ace Africa family (Ace Africa Tanzania a registered National NGO – implementing programmes and Ace Africa UK). Ace Africa Kenya works in Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Vihiga, Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori and Mombasa Counties in Kenya. Its programs targets vulnerable and marginalized communities in areas where there are high levels of poverty, food insecurity, HIV and AIDS prevalence and high numbers of orphans and vulnerable children.
Challenge
The population of Siaya is mainly agrarian with majority of households being involved in rain fed agriculture which is unreliable and leads to low crop yields because of lack of adequate water to irrigate the crops. Most of the farmers near water sources such as Lake Victoria incur high costs of using petrol pumps to irrigate their farms and which eats into their incomes and limits the area they are able to farm. Petrol is also not environmental friendly as it pollutes the environment. Those who are unable to afford the pumps fetch water with buckets and containers which is very tedious and can only be relied on a small scale leading to low yields. Through this project Ace Africa sought to address the challenge of food insecurity in the county by providing access to water for irrigation.
The project has enabled the community groups to produce vegetables throughout the year, reduction of costs used for hiring generators for irrigating the crops, improved water storage and efficiency for irrigation. The community groups have increased their income from selling vegetables to diverse markets including schools, local markets, and individual group members have been earning over USD 200 per month enabling them support their children’s education and allowing members to invest in other agricultural activities such as chicken rearing improving nutrition. Group members are now accessing water from a short distance enabling them to engage in more agricultural activities while diversifying their income generating activities such as commercial fish farming. They have also joined saving schemes and are now able to save for their future.
The project has also provided a model for the department of Agriculture in the County Government of Siaya, where the officials visited the groups to learn the model and the benefits. The County has included the solar powered irrigation technology in its strategy document for 2018-2022 for climate change mitigation, improved crop production and has already supported a number of groups with solar irrigation systems.
The project has contributed to the National Government’s Big Four Agenda priority areas Food Security, Universal Health Care, Manufacturing and Affordable Housing. Farmers in Siaya County have access to water to irrigate their crops all year round enhancing food security and increasing household income from revenues gained from selling the crops. This has also improved nutrition for the families who were initially not able to afford two meals a day and now have food available for their families at any time contributing to good health in the community.
Cezam and Associates in Partnership with USADF
CEZAM and Associates Limited (HLB Cezam) is a professional services firm registered in Kenya in 2002 and is an independent member of the HLB International network. HLB Cezam provides quality and personalized services to local and international organizations executing business in Kenya with clientele mainly drawn from: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs); Private and family owned enterprises and Donor and government agencies.
For more information on HLB CEZAM, please visit hlbcezam.com.Address
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