Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) initiative

Thanks to your generous support, we’re continuing to see great progress with our Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) initiative in Uganda. More smallholder farmers know that they can rely on their local CKW to find the information they need to better treat their crops and care for their animals, which helps poor farmers increase their incomes and better provide for themselves and their families.

With your help, since July our CKWs have:

• Helped 4,000 more farmers get the agricultural advice they need, for a total of almost 75,000 farmers helped.
• Had 483,000 interactions with farmers!

In addition, since it opened in last year, the agricultural experts at our Farmer Call Center have fielded more than 1,300 calls from CKWs and other farmers who have more complex problems that cannot be resolved through searching our CKW database on the mobile phone.

CKWs are poor farmers too, and sometimes the information they are able to access helps them solve problems for themselves as well. Shamira Chebet, a CKW from the Kapchorwa region of Uganda, recently called the Farmer Call Center with a problem about her banana plants. These plants had brought her more than $450 in income the year before; Shamira also uses them to feed her family and had used the leaves and scraps from the plants to feed her cows and goats.

Needless to say, when her plants started to yellow and wither, she was very concerned. The Call Center expert told her to apply manure to the base of the banana plants, since they were showing signs of magnesium and potassium deficiency. Shamira quickly applied manure to some of the plants to make sure it would work, and found that the plants she had treated were soon greener and healthier than those left untreated. She now treats all her banana plants with manure, and tells her neighbors whom she helps as a CKW – many of whom are also banana farmers – to use this solution when they’re facing the same problem.

We’ve come so far thanks to your help. Thank you for your compassion and generosity!

There are more farmers and CKWs like Shamira who need your help, so that they can continue to earn income and provide for their families. We are so close to our goal – won’t you contribute whatever you can today, and ask your friends and family on your social networks to do the same?

Thank you again for your life-changing support!

Thanks to your support, we’re reaching even more poor farmers in Uganda who would otherwise not receive the information they need to treat and manage their crops and livestock. These farmers know they can depend on their local Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) to teach them simple, free or low-cost ways to improve their crops and treat sick animals, in addition to telling them things that we in the developed world take for granted, such as what the weather’s going to be, or how to get the best market price for their goods. Grameen Foundation’s CKWs have helped tens of thousands of farmers improve their crops, care for their livestock and increase their incomes – improving their livelihoods, and the standard of living for their families.

Since March, our CKWs have helped more than 8,000 additional farmers with life-saving services – meaning we have helped more than 70,000 farmers since the start of this initiative. In addition, since beginning our project, our CKWs have:

• Had 675,000 interactions with farmers
• Increased farmers’ agricultural knowledge by 17%
• Increased knowledge of market prices by 20% to 35% – leading, for example, to a 20% increase in the average sale price they receive for maize

What does this mean for a poor farmer – or a CKW – in rural Uganda? It means that:

• Ruth, a poultry farmer, was able to save her sick chickens by following the advice of her CKW, using a natural remedy (adding aloe vera to their water). She now has about 30 chickens, which she depends on for food and for income.
• Wacha Geoffrey, a farmer from Loro sub-county, learned how to grow chilies with advice from his CKW. He has started to harvest the chilies and hopes to sell them for 5,000 Ugandan shillings per kilogram – a better return than his other crops.
• Wilson Kyalissiima, a CKW, more than doubled his yield of maize – from 4 bags per acre to 9 bags per acre – thanks to the agricultural information and tips he accessed through his phone.

To see how your support is benefiting the lives of farmers and CKWs (who are farmers themselves), watch this video of how CKW Mary Milimo’s life has changed for the better.

Thank you so much for your compassion and generosity. We simply could not accomplish such life-changing work without you.

Thanks to generous donors like you, we’ve met our goal in the April Challenge Month – but we still have close to $2,000 to raise to meet our new fundraising goal. Would you please consider another small donation to empower poor farmers in Uganda, and help spread the word to your friends and family via Facebook, Twitter or your other social channels?

Thank you again for your support! 

Links:

• CKW Mary Milimo talks about helping farmers, herself