Poor rural families rely on this barely-farmable land for survival
Africa's rural poor number in the hundreds of millions, and many of the continent's poorest farm families rely on barely-farmable, semi-arid land for their survival. These farmers have very little income and little to no savings, and they depend on meager harvests to feed themselves and their children. This is the way of life for thousands of families in Kenya's Kilifi district, where KOMAZA has decided to begin our work.
Extreme poverty is a trap from which Kilifi's farm families struggle to break free. Erratic rainfall often devastates these families' already poor foodcrop yields, and even in good years children are often left undernourished—one of every ten Kenyan children does not survive to the age of four. The children who do survive are too often left with a bleak future, as most families cannot afford the costs of education beyond primary school. Poverty creates further poverty, and for many families this cycle of impoverishment has continued unbroken for generations.
Kilifi's poor have difficulty breaking free from poverty not for a lack of desire or motivation, but because their circumstances make it virtually impossible to invest in themselves and in their children's future. The families that KOMAZA works with typically earn less than 50 cents per day. Even this income is mostly theoretical, since it represents the value of farm products that our families need to consume for themselves. Under these conditions, a dinner consisting of more than maize porridge is a luxury—things like a balanced diet, healthcare, school fees and basic sanitation are well beyond the reach of Africa's poorest. Since families struggle just to meet their basic consumption needs, it is impossible to save up for even small investments that could generate greater family income. Even formal employment is beyond the reach of most, since Kenya's unemployment rate is estimated at a staggering 40%.
While the problems facing Africa's rural poor seem overwhelming, they can be solved. Families do not seek handouts or giveaways, the simply want an opportunity to work their way out of extreme poverty. KOMAZA unlocks the potential of poor farm families by developing the sustainable solutions to poverty that our families desire.
