Up to 37% of the harvest is lost after it is brought in. With more than 2,000 farmers in Kenya, we build the chain that keeps the value where it grows.
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WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH YOU
You eat every day. That puts you at the end of a chain. At its start is someone who grows your food and keeps the least of it.
of a 50-cent bread roll go to the farmer. The rest stays with the mill, the bakery and the shop.
of the harvest is lost after it is brought in. Over a year, that is the work from January to May.
Three in four farms in Siaya have already lost part of a harvest. In these six places.
Middlemen set the price. Only three in ten farmers know the market price before they sell.
Anyone who cannot store and needs cash sells right after harvest, when prices are lowest.
Harvested at the wrong time, damaged during harvest, not sorted. Farm advice rarely reaches the villages.
The whole harvest needs protection. Stored too damp, it goes mouldy, and pests eat their share. For maize in Kenya, the biggest loss happens in storage.
There are too few vehicles and passable roads. What does not arrive in time spoils or is sold off cheaply.
Tomatoes, sukuma and other fresh produce last only a few days in the heat.
That is how part of the harvest is lost, and part of its value with it. These are the links we build ↓
Farmers’ share of bread and cereal products in Germany, 2021: 5% (Thünen Institute) · Up to 37% food loss in sub-Saharan Africa: FAO 2011 · 75% with post-harvest loss, 30% know the market price: MOTHERLAND baseline, 1,007 farms in Siaya County · Maize in Kenya 20–36% loss, most of it in storage: WRI Africa, FOLU Kenya, JKUAT 2025
A good harvest alone is not enough. To turn it into income, every link has to hold: healthy soil, good seed, know-how at harvest, dry storage, transport, reliable buyers and a fair price. If one is missing, the value is lost. So we build the whole chain, together with the farmers and our partner organisation MOTHERLAND CBO.
Compost, organic fertiliser and regenerative methods. Healthy soil holds water and carbon and yields more.
Certified seed as a loan. After harvest it flows back into the seed bank.
72.1% returned (2025)Training on timing, drying and sorting. Lima AI advises on WhatsApp in English, Swahili and Dholuo.
Joint collection, airtight storage and logistics all the way to the buyer.
We pool the harvest and bring it to committed buyers. The price is fixed before planting.
67% more per kiloMore income for families. And part of it flows back into soil and seed.
83.7% earn moreBACK INTO THE SOIL, SEASON AFTER SEASON
SIAYA COUNTY, KENYA
OUR VISION
We do not only want to change how food is produced, but who receives its value: economically independent communities in which young people see a future on their families' land.
THE FIELD
The work in the field is done. From here on, it is decided whether it pays off.
How we build the chain →
"I have no stress about inputs, and I have no stress about the market. MOTHERLAND has given me both. Now I focus on farming and on leading the farmers around me."
WE ARE THE SOIL WE EAT · OUR CAMPAIGN WITH THE PEOPLE OF SIAYA
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.”
In 1990, Voyager 1 turned around six billion kilometres from the sun and photographed Earth: a tiny blue point of light. Everything we know happens on that dot.
The M in our name stands for Africa, the motherland of all of us. The small blue dot next to it is that planet. One home, shared by everyone, and there is no second one.
Everything we eat grows from its soil. And what we eat becomes who we are.
FROM THE FIELD · OUR BLOG
In our blog, Diana and the team tell what happens in the field: what works, what goes wrong and what we learn.
NEW ON THE BLOGThe Map Is A Problem. It Was Simply Never The Whole Problem.DIANA BEATA KRÜGER · READ →Prefer it short? Our newsletter, once a month →All posts →
200 FOR MOTHERLAND
With €50 a month you keep a chain running that keeps the value where it grows: dry stores, seed, a fair market and the team on the ground.
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LEARNING FROM THE MOTHERLAND gUG · NON-PROFIT · HAMBURG · TAX DEDUCTIBLE · INSTANT RECEIPT VIA BCAUSE
