Community Development

ITALIANO – Sviluppo della comunitĂ 

300,000 Rose geranium seedlings in the nursery
300,000 Rose geranium seedlings in the nursery

MOOF has over the years endeavored to participate in community development entrepreneurs. We continue to devise programs and green projects that bring the farmers together as well as ensure economic stability through the Eco-Village strategy.

MOOF PERMA_ BIO ENTERPRISE PROGRAMME- Rose geranium essential oil project

geraniums
Full grown geranium plants

Our most recent project is the MOOF Perma_Bio Enterprise Programme, which we commonly refer to as the Rose Geranium essential oil project. We seek to introduce rose geranium as a  POLYCULTURE cash crop in a region with no other cash crop. The project involves local communities and our target is to have over 2,000 small scale farmers in five years

potting
Ladies potting rooting media

The project will operate across three zones (Nanyuki, Naromoru, and Timau), of three bordering counties in Kenya; Laikipia, Nyeri, and Meru. This region is about 1800-2100 M.A.S.L; on the leeward side of Mt. Kenya receiving rainfall of about 800-1000mm per year and thus a semi-arid region. Most people here practice subsistence agriculture growing food crops such as maize and beans for their subsistence use, food which is barely enough to feed their families.

potting media
Ladies potting rooting media

Generally, the whole community in the region is not economically empowered. Children are not able to access good education due to lack of fees, men engage in excessive  drinking  and other destructive activities in the forests of Mt. Kenya ( A World Heritage Site) such as logging and charcoal burning just to try and make ends meet and women are worse off since they are lowly placed by the society and thus are not given enough opportunities to be economically independent even though they do most of the work in homes to manage and raise families.

ladies carrying potted tubes
ladies carrying potted tubes

The project seeks to tackle the problem of youth unemployment by recruiting young farmers into the program and also by offering jobs within the enterprise’s structures, this will effectively end the destruction of the forest and thus a plus in the fight against climate change. By creating a model where most families will have a steady source of income,  enough food in the families, people will be able to afford a good education for their children, women will be able to achieve more fulfilling livelihoods and generally, the living conditions of the people will improve.

arranging tubes
Ladies arranging potted tubes

The  Ksh 27 million projects seeks to establish an enterprise that will become the leading producer of Rose geranium essential oil in Kenya and in Africa. Rose Geranium essential oil will be distilled from high-quality foliage material of rose geranium crop (pelargonium graveolens) at the MOOF’s facilities. By strict and thorough execution of a well thought out business plan by a highly trained and competent management team the enterprise will generate revenue of well over Ksh 50 Million within three years from sales in geranium oil and to over  Ksh 100 Millon in five years due to diversification of their products and expansion of its operations.

preparing cuttings
Ladies preparing cuttings for propagation

The project has already commenced with the propagation of 750,000 seedlings for the 100 farmers it targets for our out-grower scheme during its first year of operations. Recruitment, registration, and training of the 100 farmers to be supplied with the seedlings will then follow. For MOOF  the project is a sure way of selling  Permaculture and  Organic Farming Technologies to farmers since it not only advocates for food security but also emphasizes economic sustainability.

Peter interviewing a woman farmer
Peter interviewing a woman farmer

Small scale farmers with land ranging from 0.1-1 ha are our main target. They will be encouraged to intercrop the geranium with suitable companion food crops. The farmers will also be trained on all aspects of organic farming so as to ensure that oil produced is purely organic and sold under Fair-Trade.

Geranium nursery
Geranium cuttings/seedlings in nursery

Income to farmers from sales of geranium foliage to MOOF will range from Ksh 1.2 M- Ksh 3.6 M per acre per year, a figure that not many crops grown in the region would give. MOOF will continue to expand the project to other regions while constructing schools, health facilities, bridges and offering college and university bursaries among other community empowering activities in the near future.

geranium intercropped in cabbage field
geranium intercropped in a cabbage field

This is a long term project expected to transform the livelihoods of the local community in a major way.

geranium intercropped with kalefs riends
geranium intercropped with kalefs riends

Help Africans that help themselves