Partnership Overview

KERO farm has been set up to support the orphans in Beracah Orphan Care and to provide employment for people in the local area. The key person in this partnership has pulled together a team of people to establish a commercial farming operation in the Kawambwa District of the Luapula Province of Zambia. They are passionate about alleviating the poverty of their people, especially the orphans in their churches.

Their primary focus is to generate funds to support the orphans and to give opportunities to other poor people. Bright Hope World is assisting them to set up the farm and to get it to the point of generating a profit.

History of Partnership

Between 2002 and 2004, 300 hectares of land was granted to Bright Hope World and KERO Farms by local chief Kabanda. This land was developed into vegetable crops and fish ponds in order to create income to support orphans in the area. An assessment of the farm was conducted in 2005/6 where it was evident that growing vegetables was not providing a viable income due to the distance of the farm from the markets. 

A new strategy was developed that is currently being implemented. This strategy will see cash crops such as maize, beans, ground nuts and Irish potatoes grown to create some cash flow. As well as this, long term crops are being planted - bananas, pineapples, citrus and oil palms. Research is being done into eucalyptus and pine plantings as well.

A herd of approx 200 cows will be developed over a 5 - 6 year period. Currently there are 28 cows and each year more are purchased so that the herd is increasing. This is a long term project that will have the capacity to provide post harvest employment and funds to support Beracah and other ministry projects.

The farm has already supplied pigs and goats to some of the guardian families of the orphans in Beracah Orphan Care. 

Beneficiaries

The current beneficiaries are those working on the farm as employees. The primary beneficiaries will be the orphans and vulnerable people who receive help in the future. Currently these beneficiaries are registered by another organisation called Beracah Orphan Care that is being funded by Bright Hope World.

What We Like About The Partnership

We really like the concept of a farm that is self sustaining, creates employment and development in the area and that supports the local vulnerable people. We also have a lot of confidence in the key person and the team he has pulled together.

This partnership has all the ingredients to work. There are a number of barriers to it being effective that are and will need to be worked on. These include lack of support infrastructure for farming, resistance to new methods, jealously and lack of skilled employees.

Key People

Leadership Profile

The key person is Gershom Kasongo. Gershom has given his life to this area of the country. He shifted to the Mushota area in the 1980s and became a church planter. There were few churches in the area. He has been responsible for planting over 20 churches that form the backbone of Beracah Orphan Care and KERO farms. He and his wife Jenipher have eight children, two of whom have been lost to local sicknesses. It is not an easy life to live.

As well as being a church planter, Gershom is an entrepreneur who seeks to find solutions to the desperate needs of his people.

Other People Involved

Gershom has three other people with him on the board of KERO farm. The farm is a registered charity in Zambia and supplies accounts each year to Bright Hope World. 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The strategy here includes:
-growing 4 hectares of maize and 1 hectare each of potatoes, beans and groundnuts
-planting of 500 palm oil plants, 1,000 more pineapples and 2,500 banana plants
-selling all the existing pigs and buying goats
-purchase of 18 new cows and more barbed wire
-send a local person away for training in the care of bananas
-equipment such as a plough, bicycle, knapsack sprayers and an ox cart
-an irrigation pump

Annual Budget

The 2011 budget will require around $US8,000 but the plan is that by the end of 2011 the farm will be self-sufficient and contributing to the care for the orphans.