Within a span of only five years, the SuperMoneymaker micro-irrigation pump has stimulated great advancements among its users in Kenya. Through employment creation, increased incomes, literacy, better health and expansion of holdings, the pump is causing a revolution in rural livelihoods formerly stunted by drought.

The SuperMoneymaker pump was created in 1997 through the ingenious of Appropriate Technologies for Enterprise Creation (ApproTEC) with USAID funding with the objective of creating employment for those wishing to invest in farm related micro-enterprises.

For Meshack Thuranira, a vegetable farmer from Tigania village, Muthara location, the pump has meant new life for his family. " I used to use the laborious backbreaking process of fetching water using a bucket to irrigate my crop" says Meshack "but the yields were always poor and fetched very little money." Meshack recalls how he struggled to grow tomatoes on his one-acre farm inherited from his late father without much success. "My children could not attend school. I could barely afford to feed my family."

Then in 1998, Meshack heard about the wonder pump from a promotional demonstration by ApproTEC's monitoring team. He learnt that the pump is operated manually by peddling and can pump water up-hill to a height of 43 feet (13m); draw water from a depth of 20 feet (6m); spray water 50 feet away from the end of a hose pipe; and irrigate over 2 acres of land. Thrilled by its capability, Meshack borrowed six thousand shillings from his relatives and friends and acquired the pump for himself.

In no time, Meshack's yield had grown tenfold and he was assured of year-long production of vegetables. By the third tomato harvest, Meshack had bought three dairy cows. And two years later he bought two more acres of land and began growing a wider variety of vegetables including potatoes, kale, spinach, cauliflower, leeks and napier grass for his cows. His annual earnings from vegetable sales topped KShs 80,000 while his dairy herd yielded 80 liters of milk a day, which fetched KShs. 467,200 each year. "Since I bought the pump I hardly run short of produce and money is no longer the problem it used to be," says Meshack, who has since employed two farm assistants to handle the increasing workload. His ambition has no bounds, he anticipates that a few more vegetable sales will buy him more land and a pick-up truck to help transport his wares to the bigger markets beyond Muthara location. "With this pump, I am confident that I will earn a lot more from my business," he says. "After all, it has enabled me to enjoy the luxury and prestige of paying fees for my two sons, as well as owning a solar panel and a television set."

Today, the Thuranira family looks forward to the future with confidence. With a smile of satisfaction, Meshack says, "In only four years, this pump has enabled me reach heights I could never have imagined". Eight farmers in Meshack's neighborhood have since bought the pump.