300% Profit!

This is a story of irrigation and multiplication. 

It started back in 2018, when Boniface Sadalaki farmed just once a year, during rainy season. Despite the back breaking work of watering his crops all season long using a watering can or a bucket, he could never raise enough food to feed his family, much less sell his produce for a profit.

Then Boniface joined the AWP irrigation club in Mngwangwa, where he attended training about how to conduct irrigation farming. He learned not to depend on fertilizer alone, but to apply organize compost or animal manure 90 to 120 days before planting to increase soil nutrients. He learned to plant his crops in irrigation basins. Building a 4- to 6-inch high soil berm at the edge of newly seeded plants holds water in and makes more efficient use of irrigation technology. Additionally, AWP provided Boniface with a windmill and a rope-and-washer pump.

That’s when the multiplication began. Armed with both tools and training, Boniface invested the equivalent of $335 into purchasing seed and supplies for his half acre plot. At best, he thought he might net $100 on his investment—and that would have been a great improvement in his life. However, he found with irrigation technology he could farm three times a year instead of one.

The lessons he had learned in training enabled him to produce a much greater harvest on each of his plantings that he could have previously imagined. In the end, in 2021 he netted over $1,000—a 300% profit on his initial investment. 

Boniface immediately bought another half-acre plot, doubling the size of his farm. He anticipates even higher yields in 2022. In addition, he’s been able to pay full school fees for his four children and purchase some goats. “Which,” he marvels, “I never thought I would be able to do.” 

Africa Windmill Project doesn’t just install pumps and windmills. We work with farmers like Boniface Sadaki for the long haul, to transform not only their agricultural practice but their lives.