Interview Notes about Pumps & Irrigation with Small Scale Farmers near Kisumu, Kenya

For my Masters Thesis Project, I conducted demonstrations and in-depth interviews with 14 small scale farmers.In the summer of 2017, I travel to Kisumu, Kenya to test a prototype pump, collect user feedback, and investigate the use-environment. Most of the farmers that I talked to were in Esabalu, a dense but rural farming area 25 km (15 miles) away from Kisumu, which is the third largest city in Kenya. . The farmers were part of the Vibrant Village farming group and selected by their director, Nick Kempson. The farmers were selected primarily by proximity, but also to include both males and females. All of the farmers owned an eighth of an acre to four acres of land, with the most common plot being a fourth of an acre. All of their farms boarded a creek that had naturally flowing water year-round. From what I heard, having a year round water source is typical of small scale farmers in the area