They prepare for the future

”My farm is 2.5 hectares. I used to grow corn, cassava, cow beans and some moringa plants for personal consumption – we eat their leaves as healthy vegetables. I have seven children and I'm a widow. Money has always been tight. Without any training, women in particular only find odd jobs.

Three years ago, a representative of Kilifi Moringa Estates visited us on the farm. The man from KME, which is what we call Kilifi Moringa, suggested growing moringa on a larger area and selling all the harvested seeds to KME at fixed prices. However, the land had to be farmed organically, which was new for me. The free training courses taught me how to avoid synthetic fertilisers, that I have to weed at the right time and that I always need to pick up rubbish lying on the ground. And how to create drainage ditches to prevent erosion. KME then gave me seedlings for one hectare of land. All of this continues to happen today with money from DEG (a KfW subsidiary, ed.).

Moringa grows very fast. The plants are now about one and a half meters high. The harvest the first year was not so good because there was no rain in 2016 and the plants were still small. The next year, seed sales rose from 1.15 to 16.7 kilos! I bought food with the money. I am very confident that the harvests and thus my income will continue to increase. In the meantime, 34 farmers in the area are now growing Baraka organic moringa.

Incidentally, it now looks nice and clean around our farms thanks to the rubbish collection.“

”Neumünster has grown in size in recent years. Although the textile industry and the German army base have been victims of fundamental structural change, our city in the heart of Schleswig-Holstein is experiencing a considerable comeback as the fourth largest municipality in the state. Stadtwerke (public utilities of) Neumünster, with its 757 employees, is helping to write this success story. KfW has given us vigorous support with loans.

The Stadtwerke, a traditional municipal energy supplier with a history dating back to the industrial age of the 19th century, has significantly expanded its range of services. We no longer work exclusively to ensure a reliable supply of energy and water, but have laid Internet lines throughout the city and built a modern swimming pool to make Neumünster more attractive. All of these projects are related to infrastructure. This is the strategic core of the municipal utility business with its proximity to customers and the region. Offering a wide range of services from a single source is a win-win situation for customers and businesses.

Stadtwerke acquires around 7,000 new telecommunications customers every year, of which nearly 40,000 are already customers from other sectors. And we are continuing to expand the fibre optic network, which guarantees fast internet access, and the district heating network, which we are also changing from steam to heating water.