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KOMAZA is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to end rural poverty and unlock economic opportunities for smallholder farmers living in Kenya’s semi-arid climates.

Founded in 2006 by Tevis Howard, the organization has developed an innovative grassroots model that generates an unprecedented amount of income for rural families by helping them plant cash crops on previously degraded land. These crops are then harvested, processed and sold to high-value markets.

Due to the dry, semi-arid conditions of Coastal Kenya, most people struggle to subsist on poor harvests from drought-prone, infertile land. Because families cannot generate enough money to survive, they have also grown more reliant on the unsustainable use of natural resources, leaving agricultural livelihoods in further peril. This leads to a perpetual cycle of extreme poverty and irreversible deforestation. In response to these challenges, KOMAZA has developed intensive microforestry programs, combining microfinance, forestry and family farming. After identifying interested farmer groups under the advice and consent of community leadership, KOMAZA provides farmers with appropriate farm inputs and tools on credit – such as improved seeds, fertilizer and irrigation technologies. Then, working through an extension network of more than 50 field staff, KOMAZA offers on-farm training and support as well as complete vertically integrated value capture services so that farmers can access markets and earn a profit. Farmers can then reinvest this profit to start their own business, pay school fees for their children and receive improved healthcare.

The organization’s portfolio of crops provides both an immediate and permanent increase in annual income to improve basic life conditions and also yields large lump-sum capital for families to reinvest in major life improvements. According to KOMAZA, its farm families can earn the equivalent of ten to twenty years’ income over the eight-year lifespan of a half-acre tree farm. KOMAZA has also established two industry-leading experimental farms to research agricultural best-practices for semi-arid farmers.

KOMAZA (Swahili for "promote development; encourage growth") is based in Kilifi, Kenya. As of December 2009, the organization has partnered with nearly 500 farm families, benefiting X. KOMAZA plans to significantly expand its operations in Kenya to reach 10,000 farmers by the end of 2012.

KOMAZA is registered as a 501(c) 3 charitable organization in the United States and incorporated in the State of California.