The seeds of change helping African farmers grow out of poverty | Andrew Youn

(Voice-over) Andrew Youn: I have incredible belief

in the strength and power of African farmers.

The farmers I get to serve are incredibly inspiring,

hardworking and confident, mostly women,

that earn a better life for their families.

They have an incredible amount of power.

They're just not always equipped with the right tools.

So my organization makes a few little tweaks

and enables farm families to succeed at a whole nother level.

At One Acre Fund, we like to say farmers stand at the center of the world.

[Therese Niyonsaba, Farmer]

(Voice-over) (In Kinyarwanda) My name is Therese Niyonsaba.

I started working with TUBURA in 2018.

[In Rwanda, One Acre Fund operates under the name Tubura,

which means “to grow exponentially.“]

(Voice-over) TN: I heard about TUBURA

when the field officer came to meet farmers who had joined before me.

I had seen how they were farming and I asked them,

"Where do you get the fertilizer

to yield such a good harvest?"

They told me they get it from TUBURA.

[Price Claudine, Field Officer ONE ACRE FUND / TUBURA]

(Voice-over) (In Kinyarwanda) PC: I first met Therese in 2018.

She was eager to learn modern agricultural methods.

(Women speaking)

TN: My harvest was not enough to feed my family.

I struggled to feed my children.

I decided to expand my land

to increase my harvest.

AY: Most of the world's poor are farmers,

and so when farmers become more productive,

then they earn more income,

and mass numbers of people move out of poverty.

They produce more food for their communities and end hunger.

From the farmer's perspective, basically,

One Acre Fund provides a small loan

that makes these simple farm inputs affordable.

So this is, for example, professional seed,

which is 100 percent natural, locally produced;

a tiny microdose of fertilizer,

which is necessary for plant nutrients;

and, for example, tree seedlings.

Then we provide physical delivery of these farm inputs

and then training.

(Voice-over) PC: With TUBURA, we improved planting techniques.

The skills the farmers learned include fertilizer application

and using selected seed to yield a good harvest.

We also learned to plant in a line.

That helped us to get a better harvest.

AY: We are an agricultural organization.

Therefore, nearly all of our staff live in rural places near the farmers.

And so it's just so obvious to me that to provide effective service,

we need to be as close as possible.

PC: Before the inputs were close to the farmers,

they had to travel long distances

and even pay for transport to pick them up.

But today, they immediately take their inputs home.

(Voice-over) PC: When farmers are harvesting,

I visit them in their field

to check if the crops are ready to be harvested.

I advise them to wait until the crops are ready

and are more useful to them.

(Voice-over) TN: After joining TUBURA, my harvest remarkably increased.

We can eat. We are so happy.

And we sell the surplus of our harvest.

AY: Today, we serve about a million families

in our full-service program

and a little more than a million families through our work with partners.

(Voice-over) PC: My relationship with Therese is good.

Every time I visit her, she is so happy.

AY: In a nutshell, we have basically three goals with this Audacious proposal.

One is to expand our direct full-service program

to reach two and a half million families per year by 2026,

which, more than 10 million children are living in those families.

We can also hope by 2026

to serve an additional 4.3 million families per year,

together with these kind of operational partners

in the government and private sector.

And then lastly, we want to help shape

a more environmentally appropriate green revolution.

There's an incredible opportunity for farmers to lead the way

to lead to a more sustainable society,

both in how we shape food systems and having more diverse food systems,

but also, for example, planting tons and tons of trees.

We can now realistically kick off a campaign

to plant about a billion trees in the coming decade.

(Voice-over) TN: After working with TUBURA, I was able to build my house.

I was able to buy a solar light.

I have light in my house!

My children are eating. No problem.

I'm so happy!

Working with TUBURA gave me value.

TUBURA is at my heart.

I am so happy with TUBURA.

(Music)