Lighting the Homes of Women Farmers with Solar Lamps in Rural Kenya

Posted on : Thursday , 10th November 2022

Lighting the majority of Kenyans are without power, which forces them to use kerosene to light their homes. Kerosene is an extremely polluting fuel because when it burns, it releases more black carbon than wood, which is harmful to the health of its users. Kerosene lamps are also costly, their light is too weak for studying or reading, and they present a fire and burn risk.

One Acre Fund operates in Kenya's western and southwestern regions, two of the country’s primary food-producing areas. The organization believes that investing in local growers is the key to ending hunger and poverty in this lifetime, as most people living on less than $1 a day are farmers. By getting proven tools like solar lamps into farmers’ hands, this project aims to help them to advance from poverty to prosperity.

This project’s goal is to distribute solar lamps to over 150,000 female farmers in rural Kenya, where virtually none have access to electricity. The solar lamps will allow farm families to charge their cell phones, light their homes at night so their children can do schoolwork, and even generate extra income by charging neighbors a small fee to recharge their cell phones.

The project's marketing, engagement, outreach, and training strategies are all intended to increase the program's accessibility to women. Women, who value how quality-of-life products like these solar lamps affect children's education, are especially fond of them. In fact, according to client surveys conducted by One Acre Fund on household spending, education receives a third of the extra cash generated by this solar initiative.

Support will allow this project to connect even more farmers with these clean energy products and help them become better nourished and more prosperous by supplying them with everything they need to grow more food and earn more money. Additionally, all farmers who work with One Acre Fund have access to high-quality agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilizer, offered on credit and delivered near their homes.

By collaborating with farmers in this way, it is possible to reduce their carbon footprints through the use of solar-powered products and climate-smart agricultural techniques. Additionally, it helps to provide resilience against shifting weather patterns brought on by climate change, such as droughts and floods.