Hannah is a wife, a mother of four, a smallholder farmer and one of the first women at Ndiri-ini Village, in Kiambu County to increase her farm´s productivity and family well-being with a biogas Hybrid Reactor plant.
A year ago she was among many farmers who use firewood and other costly fuels for cooking, spending up to KES 5,000.00 every month. Additionally, she also incurred a substantial cost in the health clinic from time to time as she had continuously developed chest problems resulting from the daily inhalation of smoke. Hannah took a bold step to change her story forever.
In the past, Hanna had been using chemical fertilizers for her yield, but this added extra costs, besides she was aware on long term impacts on the soil’s ecosystem. She also tried using fresh manure, but it implied hard work and time.
Hannah invested in a Sistema.bio digester, now feels healthier, has enough energy to cook for her family at no cost, and saves the KES 5000 that would otherwise be burnt off on wood fuels. Additionally, she generates and uses own biofertilizer (an upgrade of the traditional practice of manure application) on the farm which has increased her farm productivity and has enabled an annual saving on fertilizer of at least KES 8,000.00. She also sells the extra biofertilizer giving her a weekly extra income. With the cost savings, Hannah pays for her children’s education as well as reinvesting in her farm.
The investment wouldn’t have been attainable for Hannah had it not been for the 0 % repayment plan offered by Sistema.bio. This models offers flexibility to the changing farmers’ cashflows.
Hannah prides in the status that Sistema.bio has given her in her community, and she doesn’t have to worry about wet firewood during rainy season anymore and her hands never get dirty with soot while she is cooking. While she uses the biodigester for cooking, now she has plans to expand her farm and increase her system size in order to power her chaff cutter and save more money.
