Author Archives: Matt Lineal
Nuru International’s Agriculture Program in Ethiopia
In February 2013, Nuru International’s project in Ethiopia transitioned into the early phases of field implementation. In this update, I introduce Douglas La Rose, Nuru International’s Agriculture Program Facilitator for Ethiopia. Before I do so, I want to review where we’ve come from and where we’re at currently. Nuru International started working in Kuria, Kenya …Continue Reading
Nuru International’s Agriculture Program: Commitment to Environmental Sustainability
Sustainability and Environment The subject of this post is Nuru International’s approach to environmental sustainability in the Agriculture Program. Nuru International often discusses sustainability in terms of projects running on local finances (Financial Sustainability) and local leadership (Leadership Sustainability). While these values are fundamental to the way projects operate, there are other qualifiers of sustainability. …Continue Reading
Hunger, Extreme Poverty and Agriculture
Nuru International’s Agriculture Program focuses on addressing the need of hunger in communities that live in situations of extreme poverty. How does Nuru International Agriculture Program address the need of hunger? To take a closer look at this question, let’s discuss a hypothetical example of one farmer. Chacha, a farmer in Kuria West, Kenya, has …Continue Reading
Nuru International’s Agriculture Program in 2013
In the Nuru International Agriculture Program, I often find myself planning and anticipating what’s to come: the next few years, the next season, the next activity in the field, or the next month’s outlook for rain. Nuru International’s Agriculture Program is growing, with a robust program under Nuru Kenya and a nascent program under Nuru …Continue Reading
Indigenous Knowledge, International Development & Smallholder Agriculture
Recently, I was posed a question: How does indigenous knowledge fit into Nuru International’s Agriculture Program? With such a vibrant history in our current countries of operation, Kenya and now Ethiopia, Nuru International’s Agriculture Program leverages the vast sum of knowledge accumulated by local people to create and implement sustainable and scalable agriculture interventions for …Continue Reading
Researching Innovation for the Nuru Agriculture Program
The Agriculture Program mandate is to create a sustainable economic base for chronic hunger communities. Even amidst the success of thousands of Nuru farmers bringing in a bumper maize crop for the 2012 long rains season, I find myself researching other program interventions to create more impact in the lives of farmers in extreme poverty. …Continue Reading
Creating Organization Structure for Sustainable Program Implementation
Nuru International focuses on developing the key leadership skills and critical thinking capacity of its leaders to build organizational sustainability. The ability of Nuru Kenya to support and reinvent itself is fundamental to adapt and scale operations. The challenge is to remain consistent, true, and focused on the program goal in each area. For agriculture, …Continue Reading
Agriculture Input Loans for Rural Livelihood Development
During all of December and January, Nuru Agriculture is distributing loans of agriculture inputs (fertilizer and seed) for maize production to approximately 3,000 smallholder farmers in Kuria, Kenya. Nuru Agriculture provides agricultural loans as one critical element of its complete farmer package, which includes technical trainings, organization of farmers into small work groups, and agriculture …Continue Reading
Modern Cropping Techniques for Smallholder Agriculture Development
Nuru’s Agriculture Program provisions small loans of agricultural inputs (fertilizers and seed) to farmers and trains farmers to generate a permanent and significant increase in crop yields. The beginning of the long rains season (December to July) marks the busiest time for the agriculture program and for millions of Kenyan farmers who are investing in …Continue Reading
From Life Skills to Technical Abilities: Empowerment Through Farmer Training
Nuru’s agriculture program mobilizes and trains thousands of farmers every year in October and November in anticipation of the long rains maize harvest season (January to July). The agriculture program issues loans of agricultural inputs (maize seeds and fertilizers) and trains farmers to use them. Nuru equips extremely poor smallholder agriculturalists with the knowledge and tools to …Continue Reading