Stories From The Field: Income Generation
Filters

Maureen Oboch – Orange Sweet Potato Entrepreneur

“DIG brought me up from a level no one else would have done, I leant a number of techniques that have enables me to succeed even in other projects, I have done all these because DIG opened my potential in farming, DIG connected me to Ministry of Agriculture and I got connected further to CIP. For sure my life has improved beyond what anyone expected.” – Maureen Oboch Maureen Oboch first joined DIG’s program back in 2016. She is from

Read More

Sabina

Sabina Onyango has been a member of the Ny Karachuonyo HIV support group in Western Kenya for several years. She, like others in her group, are well versed in the important role nutrition plays in their otherwise compromised health. In 2015, seeking more feasible solutions to improve their nutrition, her highly motivated group sought out access to DIG’s nutrition sensitive agriculture training. Over the 5- month training, Sabina became increasingly excited about what she was learning and quickly began implementing

Read More

DIG Batwa Farmers: Katamas and Hope

This Batwa family used to beg for dregs, feeding their 5 children the leftover sorghum from a locally produced drink only once per day. When the couple joined the DIG program, they were skeptical of the outcome as many NGO’s had come to their village for projects that were short-term.

Read More

Follow the Leader

Sabina Onyango is a member of a highly motivated HIV support group in Western Kenya. After seeing DIG's impact in the region, her group expressed an interest for DIG to work with them on sustainable agriculture initiatives for small holder farmers that also have a nutritional impact on people living with HIV.

Read More

Make the Market Come to You

With a growing number graduated DIG farmers who are seeing their small vegetable plots as an entrepreneurial opportunity, DIG decided to established an organic vegetable stall at our partner hospital, Lwala Community Alliance (LCA), to create a new link to the local market economy.

Read More

Growing Up Resilient

Zakayo Mikwanga is recognized as one of DIG’s most successful home gardeners. He proudly harvests kale, carrots, and other vegetables every day of the year without interruption. “I am a busy person,” he laughs. “Unlike before, my family is learning new techniques as we enjoy the benefits of having a garden with many different vegetables.”   Growing up, Zakayo had a father who, though poor, valued a good education – a rare privilege in 1960s Kenya. Zakayo would take his

Read More

The Wechaya HIV Support Group

It’s an early, cool Wednesday morning; the sun is still low in the sky, but the chorus of cicadas and crickets reminds us of the heat that’s coming. The Wechaya HIV Support Group is meeting in their community garden. Quiet talking and laughing can be heard as women dressed in vibrantly patterned skirts make their way down the narrow cow paths and gather in the shade of a broad mango tree.   Organized through DIG’s Mobile Farmer Field School program,

Read More

Budding Businesses – A Story of a Elizabeth Omiti

Elizabeth Achieng Omiti is a 52-year-old DIG-trained farmer in Migori County, Kenya. She is a widow, a mother of three daughters and two sons. She is also the sole provider for five grandchildren who were left with her by their mother several years ago.   Before DIG came to the area, Elizabeth was growing sugarcane and maize exclusively. She struggled daily to put food on her table, and pay her grandchildren’s school fees. Sugarcane was what her husband had always

Read More

Why Home Gardens are Important!

DIG first started doing home gardens in 2006 thanks to Koumba! While Koumba was being inspired by DIG’s training, we were being inspired by her.    It was she who asked for and received DIG’s first Home Garden. She asked if we could help her with some of the initial seed money to get a garden started in the small space behind her home. Koumba knew she could feed her family from this otherwise discarded space and would use her

Read More

Hellen Odira Omingo: DIG Farmer and Entrepreneur

I spent this morning with Hellen Odira Omingo, a DIG farmer participating in our Producer Group Program in North Kamagambo, Kenya. Hellen is a widow blessed with 4 children and a beautiful spirit.  She was trained by DIG last year in our Farmer Field School program and selected to join the Todnal Producer Group. DIG launched the Producer Group Program several months ago as a pilot program to help small-holder farmers shift their perspective from subsitence farming alone to farming as

Read More