Custom Hay Bailing as a Business for Former Street Children in the Kenyan Highlands.

Related to an initiative for street children in Nyeri, Kenya to empower them to start their own businesses, inquiries revealed that animal feed preservation for the growing dairy industry was a business opportunity. Low-cost harvesting and baling equipment was introduced in 2010 to facilitate feed storage and transportation from rural to suburban areas where zero-grazing dairy units are ubiquitous. Youth in the focus area formed a custom hay baling team serving farmers in the Mt. Kenya area.  Follow up business analysis revealed that net income up to $5 per person per day was achieved. 

Presenter:

Sjoerd is a Soil Management Specialist in the Crop Management Extension Group at Penn State University.  His work concentrates on sustainable intensification using conservation agriculture.  He has helped destitute youth in Kenya start a hay baling business using appropriate technologies and is interested in scaling this effort up