2. Rockwell Rookey, Civil Engineer, LEED AP
Dr. Thomas Boving, URI
Dr. Katherine Owens, UHart, Politics and Government
Maria Arroyo, UHart Politics and Government Student
Alex Schettino, UHart ME Student (Graduated)
KARI
Dr. George Ayaga
Ruth Orlale
3. Amaranth grain was introduced to Western Kenya and
other countries as a CASH CROP by Poverty
Eradication Commission- 2005
Highly nutritious “super food” (addresses health and
food security issues)
Drought (and pest) resistant (addresses climate
change) – Maize is failing
Short growing period (Increased production)
5. Sows appropriate number
of seeds at correct spacing
Little to no waste of seeds
Much less
thinning/weeding
Quality of yield improves
6. A machine designed to
efficiently thresh grains with
high quality output
No longer exhaustive, dirty,
back-breaking work typical of
traditional method
With a replacement
screen/sieve, a single machine
can decrease time, labor, and
increase quality and quantity
for all your grains
7. Manufacturing and sale of tools:
Develop the infrastructure and capacity (locally)
for large-scale manufacturing of the mechanical
seed planter and the human-powered thresher.
Customers need customers:
Assist small to medium farming enterprises in
increasing quantity and quality of amaranth
production.
8. June 2012: On-the-ground business model
Facilitated consensus among stakeholders at each of
5 pilot sites (farming collaboratives-communities):
Delineate individual roles and contributions
Ensure equity/investment
9. Partners:
Kenya Agriculture and Research
Institute
Farming Groups
Polytechnic School
Ministry of Agriculture
10. Community mobilization:
Each group has its own dynamic and history with each
other and with us - modified accordingly
11. Transferring/sharing knowledge and ideas:
Develop a common understanding of the background,
“the problem,” and the purpose of the project.
12. Implementation of Shared Use of Tools:
Activities, roles, responsibilities
Who will keep the tools?
Who will provide oversight, training, and
management?
How many days will each farm utilize tools?
How will tools be transported from farm to farm?
Who will be in charge of maintenance?
How much to charge individual users?
**Our customers have customers: Increasing production
of amaranth grain locally
13. November 2012 and January 2013 field trips
Assess progress:
Practical/shared use of tools
Tools versus traditional methods (research)
Further field testing and modifications
Plan for upscaling of amaranth production
Identify entrepreneurs: expand/innovate venture
model
Marketing/partnerships (i.e., Ministry of
Agriculture, registries of collaboratives)
Seed production and related training
15. Involving farmers in the implementation and the
testing of the tools: the farmers see the value and need
for the tools
16. Involving farmers in the implementation and the testing:
Farmers and artisans build strong working relationships
17. Involving farmers in the implementation and the
testing: Business Venturers step forward
18. Lessons Learned: The tools will work, now the focus
is the business model
Nov. 2012
19. • Detailed business model for tools:
Hardware store (micro-finance group)
Carpenters (borrow from micro-finance group for start-up funds)
Micro-finance group (registered)
Train the trainer model
Marketing and promotion
Payment for maintenance and management (of thresher)
Accounting
Promotion of amaranth
Seed breeding
Identification of buyers of amaranth
Value add – milling/packaging/KEBS
Jan. 2013
21. Expand our partners and focus on supporting business
venture and other entrepreneurs
Increase production of amaranth
Further too development: Are we saving on time and
improving work conditions? Are we improving quality
and quantity?
More training on production of amaranth and develop
train the trainer model
Advisory committee