AGRA

The midday sun beats down on the red earth of Mgaza village, Katerero in Bukoba Tanzania. In the middle of the field, Allen Fedrick works with steady hands, his fingers pressing soil. Beside him, his wife moves in rhythm, her hoe slicing the ground with quiet determination. To an outsider, this is just another farming couple tending their crops but the journey that brought Allen here is one of extraordinary grit and reinvention.

A few years ago, Allen’s life took a devastating turn. A horrific accident left him with severe injuries and ultimately cost him his leg after a very bad road accident. The doctors told him amputation was the only option. “When they said they had to remove my leg, it felt like my whole future had been cut away too,” Allen recalls. “For a while, I didn’t know where to begin again.”

But quitting was never in Allen’s nature. After months of recovery, he decided to restart life with what he had – his hands, his determination, and his will to survive. He began small, selling pineapples by the roadside, learning the market and building relationships with customers.

It was during this time that Allen crossed paths with the YEFFA program under AGRA—an initiative aimed at empowering youth in agriculture. The program trained him in modern farming methods, provided quality seedlings, market linkage and equipped him with essential farming inputs. For Allen, this was more than training, it was a second chance.

Armed with new skills, he transitioned from a simple pineapple vendor to a grower and distributor. He now cultivates his own pineapples and, thanks to the transport link between Kagera and Mwanza, he regularly sends his produce to Mwanza. This isn’t about massive cargo it’s just small but he makes the journey about three times a month, ensuring that his pineapples reach markets while they’re still fresh.

On average, each trip yields him a net profit of 100,000 to 200,000 Tanzanian shillings after paying workers and covering transport. In a good month, that amounts to roughly 300,000 shillings from Mwanza sales alone, plus an extra 10,000 shillings daily from local sales in his own community.

Allen’s progress has been more than financial. Within a short period, he has married, built his own home, and established a respected name in his village. While he hires laborers for heavy tasks, he still chooses to work on the farm himself, moving along the rows with the help of a crutch. His presence in the field sends a message that disability does not mean inability.

“People think that when you have a disability, your life slows down or you are supposed to start begging,” Allen says, brushing dust from his palms. “For me, it pushed me to move faster towards my dreams.”

Allen’s has moved from point zero to one point, his story is more than a tale of survival, it is a blueprint for turning hardship into opportunity. With the right training, resources, and unwavering willpower, he has transformed a moment of deep loss into a life of growth, purpose, and abundance. In every pineapple he sells, there is a piece of his resilience and a reminder that no obstacle is too great to overcome.