Built for farmers who were tired of relief
Shamba Project Kilifi began in 2020 with one idea: Kilifi can feed itself if its farmers grow crops that pay. Shamba means farm.
Why we exist
Most people in Kilifi County are small-scale farmers, and too many of them live in poverty. For years the answer from outside was relief food. We wanted something different: help farmers grow their own food and their own income.
“Don’t give us relief. We want to produce our own.”
We started with training, good seed and inputs, and with green grams in the driest parts of Ganze. When farmers harvested in places people called a desert, we knew the land was not the problem.
Since 2024 our focus has been cassava. It is drought-hardy, pays about three times what maize does per hectare, and every part of the plant can be used. We see it as the crop that fights poverty on the coast.
What we do
- Give farmers high-quality cassava cuttings
- Train them and visit their farms through the season
- Buy cassava from local farmers
- Dry it into chips, and make briquettes
- Find buyers in local and regional markets
We cover the whole chain, from the day a farmer joins to the day the cassava is sold.
Who leads it
Andrew Mwangovi founded Shamba Project Kilifi and leads it as CEO. He works on sustainable agriculture and food systems and has spent years mobilising farming communities in Kilifi. Andrew on LinkedIn.
Our road so far
Started as an agricultural NGO
Set up to get small-scale farmers in Kilifi County out of poverty with training, good seed and inputs, and crops that can compete in the market.
Official launch
Launched at our offices in Kilifi.
Kitchen gardens in Ganze Bamba
A kitchen garden unit for every household, the start of food security in Bamba.
Green grams in dry-land Ganze and Katama
Two harvests of export-grade green grams in places people called a desert.
The cassava project begins
Launched in Kaloleni Sub County, with a cassava dryer and cuttings handed out across the county.
2,200 farmers get cuttings
More than 3,000 farmers sold cassava into local and regional markets with our help.
First cassava briquettes
Chips dried to 10% moisture even in the wet season, and our first briquettes made.
1,825 farmers, 3,500+ acres
Raising funds for a flour machine and looking for partners to reach 10,000 farmers by 2030.