From $14 in seeds to a year’s worth of income.

When we visited Lillian in her village, she didn’t start by talking about maize. She showed us her chickens. 

A few months ago, Lillian received seeds through the new agriculture initiative. She planted them, tended her farm, and implemented what she learned from training. At harvest in January, she gathered five sacks of maize. She sold part of it and used the income to start a small business. As she shared with us, “With the five sacks I harvested, I started a poultry project and bought ten chickens.”

What began as a bag of seeds became a new source of income for her family—and Lillian’s story is not the only one.

In August 2025, we launched an agriculture initiative, with 90 families receiving training in modern farming techniques along with a small investment of $14 in maize seeds. A few months later, they harvested. Together, those families generated about $15,000 in income, which is an average of $166 per household. 

For context, most of these families live on less than $15 per month. In one harvest, they earned what amounts to a year’s worth of income.

Families have used their harvest in meaningful, tangible ways: paying school fees so children can stay in school, building brick homes, purchasing livestock like cows and pigs, starting small businesses, constructing latrines, and putting food on the table.

What we’re seeing is that when seeds are paired with holistic programs (trainings, savings groups, and ongoing support), families aren’t just farming for one season—they’re building sustainable ways to provide for their households over time.