Affordable irrigation and agribusiness partnerships in Zambia help smallholder farmers grow year-round, strengthen supply chains, and support conservation through sustainable livelihoods.
Tag: Treadle pump
With a KickStart pump, Joshua scaled his farm, launched a nursery, and now trains youth in sustainable agriculture across Kenya and beyond.
After losing her husband, Rosemary Okuku turned to farming to support her children. With a KickStart Starter Pump, she increased her vegetable harvest by over 20%, tripled her poultry flock, and gained the stability to invest in her family’s future.
KickStart’s Youth in Pump Business initiative is helping young people in Kenya turn irrigation tools into income, skills, and local impact. With training, credit access, and flexible business models, these youth-led enterprises are improving livelihoods and expanding irrigation access where it’s needed most.
In Kenya’s Homa Bay County, Ben Blasto turned a single irrigation pump into a thriving business. Through KickStart’s Rent to Try & Buy model, he’s now supporting over 200 farmers—proving how access to the right tools can create jobs, improve harvests, and transform rural communities.
KickStart’s Rent to Try & Buy model puts decision-making in the hands of farmers—allowing them to rent an irrigation pump, use it when needed, and choose whether to buy. This flexible, low-risk approach is helping smallholders adapt to changing conditions, grow more food, and build income on their own terms.
Esther’s farm: A look at how irrigation supports growth Esther Auma Andal is a smallholder farmer in Kenya who has steadily expanded her farming operation over the past two years. Like many farmers in her community, she previously relied on manual methods to water her crops—hauling drums of water and using a watering can to irrigate […]
Alice’s irrigation journey: Finding independence in community After the loss of her husband, Alice Odhiambo faced the urgent challenge of supporting her five children—including one with a disability—in rural western Kenya. A former research professional who had left her job to care for her family, Alice now needed to build a new source of income […]