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KickStart and The John Deere Foundation
KickStart, a non-profit organization that helps farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mali get out of poverty, is a major foundation partner.
KickStart develops and sells low-cost equipment such as simple irrigation pumps to subsistence farmers, many of whom struggle to cultivate tiny parcels of land. This small investment often means the difference between barely growing enough to feed a family and growing enough to operate a profitable commercial farm.
Based on sophisticated impact monitoring, KickStart reports that 85 percent of the farmers who invest in a KickStart treadle pump for small-field crop irrigation see their net incomes rise from $100 to $1000 in the first year of using the pump. The additional income also boosts village economies as farmers spend money on health care, education and other goods.
Farmers using KickStart equipment, ranging from the pumps to an oilseed press and a simple machine to make blocks for building, have had enough success to account for a measurable impact on their countries' economies. As of late 2006, KickStart had helped more than 47,000 families (about 240,000 people) start profitable commercial farm businesses.
A three-year, $3 million grant from the John Deere Foundation is helping KickStart expand its program into three more African countries with a goal of selling 125,000 pumps and helping to lift 400,000 more people out of poverty. Although KickStart sells the pumps, such grants are essential to defray the costs of marketing necessary to get the pumps into farmers' hands at a price they can afford and providing training in the use and maintenance of the pumps.
Learn more about KickStart.
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