Last month signified a very poignant moment for Futurepump. It was the first time that Jitendra and Jigisha Lakhani visited Kenya to see some of their very first solar water pumps in action in the field.
It is part of the Futurepump philosophy for everyone to be reminded of the end result of their work. We believe it is important to be proud of the difference to farmers lives that Futurepump solar pumps make. As with anyone reading this post, I’m sure you know how easy it is to forget the big picture when we focus in on the day to day tasks.
For their first time out of India and first time to Kenya, following the global Jamboree, a jam-packed tour of safaris and farm visits were planned.
After decades of work in manufacturing and over 5 years working solely for Futurepump Jitendra and Jigisha form and head up a formidable manufacturing team – and one which is essential to the success of Futurepump. This trip was a well-earned visit to the field to experience where some of the 3,000 pumps they have manufactured have ended up.
Stories from the field
“It has really changed my life” – Vincent Onyango
Vincent, Homa Bay, is one of our most entrepreneurial customers. He explained that he not only uses the Futurepump SF1 solar pump for irrigating his farm, he also rents it to local plumbers and his neighbours. Through the increased income from his farm provided by solar irrigation and the revenue from renting out the pump he has been able to invest in a greenhouse with drip irrigation.
Vincent now uses the pump every three days for less than an hour a time. This is enough for him to fill the tank and set off his gravity fed drip irrigation. He is then able to rent out his water pump for irrigation to others to make use of the remaining sunshine hours while his irrigation system works for itself. In this greenhouse he now grows tomatoes and is able to get four crates of tomatoes every week!
He explained to Jitendra and Jigisha that the solar pump has really changed his life. This was made even more poignant when they studied the pump serial number and found that it was one of our early pumps, one they could remember manufacturing!
“We visited two farmers near Kisumu, one was to Vincent, a really enterprising, hardworking and successful young man. We were extremely proud to see the opportunities the pump is bringing to him and humbled to hear him say “it (the pump) has changed our lives”.” – Jitendra
Remember Bowa Marita? Watch his case study video here:
When he purchased the solar water pump, he decided to plant bananas. This was because he could now irrigate for free using the solar pump and no longer had to worry about the hard, manual labour of carrying water. These bananas are now mature and ready to harvest. He explained that because the irrigation has been free he has experienced no input costs from this crop and he see that everything he harvests will be going to profit.
“Keep doing your great work and continue to move forward” – Bowa Marita
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Author: Helen Davies