From Hooves to Harvest: A Bean That Beats Drought

James Mugambi Ngece grew up watching pastoral families in Laikipia County build their entire livelihoods around livestock, only to watch drought and land degradation erode that foundation year after year. As founder of Equal Foundation, he set out to prove that protein security did not have to depend on cattle, goats, and sheep alone. His vision was simple and urgent: help communities that had always measured wealth in herds discover a resilient, plant-based alternative that could survive the very conditions that were making livestock farming untenable. With support from The Pollination Project, that vision became the project “From Hooves to Harvest: Protein Security through Drought-Tolerant Beans.”

“We wanted farmers to see that resilience does not always walk on four legs,” Ngece said. “Sometimes it grows in the soil, ready to harvest in sixty days.”

The TPP seed grant allowed Equal Foundation to introduce the KAT B1 bean variety, a drought-tolerant, iron-rich, fast-cooking crop developed by KALRO, to pastoral households in Laikipia North Subcounty. With the funding, the organization procured 120 kilograms of certified bean seed, distributed 96 kilograms to farmers across five villages, and set aside the remainder to establish a demonstration farm for hands-on training. Fifty farmers, most of them women and youth, were trained in climate-smart agriculture, covering bean cultivation, seed saving, soil health management, and post-harvest handling. Bi-monthly follow-up visits ensured that new skills translated into real adoption in the field, not just theory in a workshop.

The grant did more than fund seeds. It funded trust. Convincing communities with deep cultural ties to livestock that a bean could offer real protein security took patience, sensitization, and consistent presence, all of which the grant made financially possible over a full year of implementation.

Of the twenty four farmers who received seed directly, eighteen successfully harvested a combined 120 kilograms of beans, which Equal Foundation redistributed to eighteen additional farmers in a second phase, effectively doubling the project’s reach without additional seed purchases. Several farmers who planted just two kilograms harvested between twenty and thirty kilograms, a yield that speaks to both the resilience of the KAT B1 variety and the strength of the training farmers received.

“When my neighbors saw my harvest, they stopped asking why I was planting beans and started asking for seed,” one participating farmer shared with the project team.

This seed multiplication model, farmer to farmer, village to village, is now the backbone of Equal Foundation’s plan to scale drought-tolerant bean farming across additional arid and semi-arid communities in Laikipia and beyond.

The numbers behind this project tell a story of food security, animal welfare, and economic opportunity converging. The project directly reached 80 people and, through the diversification of household protein sources, helped shield an estimated 4,000 livestock, cattle, goats, and sheep, from being slaughtered for consumption. It generated 8,000 dollars in income for participating households and was sustained by 330 volunteer hours contributed by community members and project staff. Beyond the numbers, farmers reported improved knowledge of climate-smart agriculture and a genuine shift in attitudes toward plant-based nutrition, a change that Equal Foundation continues to reinforce through nutrition education and expanded market linkages for surplus beans.

For The Pollination Project, this project is a clear example of what a small, trust-based seed grant can unlock: a grassroots leader with lived understanding of his community, a climate-smart solution rooted in local science, and a model of philanthropy that funds people first so that impact can multiply on its own. Equal Foundation’s work also opened doors to a wider network of animal welfare organizations, connecting the team to international platforms and new funding partnerships that will help carry this protein security model into new regions.

“This grant did not just give us seeds,” Ngece reflected. “It gave our community permission to imagine a different future, one where drought does not mean loss, and where protein does not have to come at the cost of an animal’s life.”

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