Zeba superabsorbent information for NGOs & non-profits  

Contact AFP to get Zeba for any non-profit, NGO, or aid agency working with poor farmers. Click for email to paul@abundancefarming.org

See Zeba dosage rates and calculator below

Abundance Farming Project welcomes non-profit organizations, NGOs and aid agencies in India, Africa and the Americas, working with subsistence farmers, to start evaluations of Zeba with local farming conditions.

Abundance Farming Project pays the material and shipping costs to demonstrate the benefits of Zeba with local farming conditions, through seed-funding by investors in AFP's "New Farmer Starts". 

Abundance Farming Project provides long-term subsidies for the material and transportation costs; working through established NGOs who begin covering costs for Zeba to the smallholder farmers they serve.

Increased yields enable local farmers to profit and provide greater food supplies to their communities, enabling them to cover costs after multiple years of surplus.

Expandable model grows where local successes are widely demonstrated. Community run product distribution provides jobs and business experience as farming communities prosper.  

For basic rain-fed farming in scarce water conditions, our ‘new farmer start’ provides almost 7kg or 15lb of this unique starch-based  superabsorbent.  When mixed in the soil around the roots of plants, this ‘start’ can store about 3400 liters or 900 gallons of water when it rains, and then release the water during dry spells, over and over for a year and more, absorbing and releasing as the plants need it.  Offering a way for rain dependent farming families to survive intermittent rainfall and increase crop yields, so subsistence farmers facing water scarcity grow their way out of poverty.

     

AFP's Zeba usage guidelines for scarce water conditions

Tubers / melons - potatoes, yams, cassava… squash, cucumber
14 to 20kg per hectare
14 to 20lb per acre

Beans, Onions 
8 to16kg per hectare 
8 to 16lb per acre

Maize / Corn 
8 to12kg per hectare 
8 to12lb per acre

Green leafy vegetables – lettuce, spinach …sugar beets 
6 to10kg per hectare 
6 to10lb per acre

Grasses / Legumes – pastures, alfalfa, clover
6 to 8kg per hectare 
6 to 8lb per acre

Grains – wheat, barley, oats 
3 to 4kg per hectare 
3 to 4lb per acre

AFP's Zeba usage guidelines
for sufficient water conditions  

Tubers / melons - potatoes, yams, cassava… squash, cucumber 7 to 10kg per hectare
7 to 10lb per acre

Beans, Onions 
4 to 8kg per hectare 
4 to 8lb per acre

Maize / Corn 
4 to 6kg per hectare 
4 to 6lb per acre

Green leafy vegetables – lettuce, spinach …sugar beets 
3 to 5kg per hectare 
3 to 5lb per acre

Grasses / Legumes – pastures, alfalfa, clover
3 to 4kg per hectare 
3 to 4lb per acre

Grains – wheat, barley, oats 
1.5 to 2kg per hectare
1.5 to 2lb per acre

Zeba dosage conversion table - from per acre or hectare to per plant
For pounds and acres:
	Enter pounds per acre from usage guidelines above
	Enter the number of square feet for each plant
	Plants per acre
	OUNCE of Zeba for each plant
	TEASPOON of Zeba for each plant
	PINCHES of Zeba for each plant - (3-fingered)
For kilos and hectares:
	Enter kilos per hectare from usage guideines above
	Enter the number of square meters for each plant
	Plants per hectare
	GRAMS of Zeba for each plant
	TEASPOON of Zeba for each plant
	PINCHES of Zeba for each plant - (3-fingered)

********************************************************* 

AFP Sustaining Strategy
Five stages of the AFP sustaining model correspond with the project development stages:

AFP covers the initial material and shipping costs to demonstrate the benefits with local farming, funded by contributions, and seed funding grants.

NGOs, aid agencies, and foundations underwrite material and transportation costs, after we establish viability in the farming communities they serve.

Increased crop yields and quality enable local farmers to profit; after consecutive years of surplus they cover the costs.

Community run product distribution provides jobs and business experience, growing from community farming successes.

Regional manufacturing increases capacity and reduces product costs.

AFP Metrics and Assessment

Key evaluation metrics and measures for each project development stage:

 

Stage 1 - How many farming households plant with Zeba, yield increases from the recent crop cycle, annual HH income increases, and estimated water offset (compared to typical for crop yields).

 

Stage 2 - How many NGOs are funding how many farming households planting with Zeba, yield increases from the recent crop cycle, annual HH income increases, and estimated water offset.

 

Stage 3 - How many farming households increase yields
and HH income over how many consecutive years while affording what portion of costs for Zeba.

 

Stage 4 - How many communities undertake distribution and the total community economic benefit in crop yields, HH income increases, jobs added, and total water offset.

 

Stage 5 - How many factories distribute to how many communities, what product cost reduction and what manufacturing capacity dedicated for that region's smallholder farmers, producing what economic benefit, and the total water offset.