FROM THE FIELD Spring 2014

Transcription

1 FROM new Tanzania and

2 WHY ANNET NOW SAYS THE SKY IS HER LIMIT Hideat has received her goats, and is confident of a future free from hunger for her family. MAKING DOUBLE THE DIFFERENCE! Farm Africa supporters gave an incredible 180,000 in response to our Christmas appeal. It focused on our work in Ethiopia s Tigray region, where we are providing poor women with goats and training in how to care for and breed them. Hideat, pictured above, is just one mother who struggles to provide for her children from the sloping, rocky land in Tigray. With poor soil and steep hillsides making it impossible for many families to grow enough food, Hideat, like thousands of others, found herself part of the Ethiopian government s PSNP scheme. This is a safety net programme where she receives food and a little money in exchange for manual labour for six months of the year. As a single parent, and one of the poorest members of her community, Hideat was selected to take part in our goat-rearing programme. And we are delighted to let you know that Hideat has now received three goats! First, she took part in training, where she learnt how to care for goats and all about goat breeding. Following the training, she received her goats and Desta, our project co-ordinator, contacted us recently to let us know that all three goats were pregnant. Hideat will give the first three kids back to the project team, who will distribute them to another poor family in desperate need. By June, when the PSNP scheme finishes for the year, Hideat will have been able to start building up her own herd of goats. They will provide her with an invaluable source of milk and income during the coming months and years and a way of earning money close to home so that she can care for her children. And the best news is that the UK government has matched all the gifts we received to our Christmas appeal, meaning that we can help 6,500 more families in Tigray to build new livelihoods in the coming year. Just 60 could help provide another woman like Hideat with a goat, and the training she needs to breed and care for it. FA Spring From the Field 2013 V4.1 ART.indd year-old widow Annet is a member of the Twekembe Farmers Group, based in Uganda s Nakasongola district. As is commonplace in the area, she relies on what she can produce on her farmland to provide for her young family. But getting a good harvest requires more than just the dedication and hard work that she can provide. Nakasongola and the surrounding districts are blighted with pests and diseases that can wipe out entire fields of crops, leaving the families that rely on them destitute. That is why Farm Africa is working with 450 groups of farmers across Central Uganda helping them to grow disease-resistant varieties of maize, beans and peanuts (or groundnuts as they are known in eastern Africa). Annet s crops provide her family with much more than just food they are her main source of income too. So, as well as providing her with disease-resistant seeds to trial and training in the most efficient farming techniques, Farm Africa has been helping Annet and the rest of the Twekembe group members to sell their crops for a good price. Annet lives in a rural area, and in the past has sold her produce at low prices to local traders who drive around the farms at harvest time, offering farmers instant cash in exchange for their produce. This means farmers often make a rushed decision on what price to accept without knowing what it would be at market. As a result, Farm Africa has been helping Annet and the rest of the farmers to set up a storage system so that they can gather their produce in one place, and then transport it together to markets where they can sell it for a good price. With better seeds and training in new farming techniques, Annet s crops are now flourishing. Thanks to the new seeds, Annet is now producing more than ever. And with the help of Farm Africa she is also selling her maize, beans and peanuts for a much better price. I am now assured of three meals a day and I can pay school costs for my children... I want to build a better house for my family. A gift of just 16 could provide a farmer like Annet with some improved seeds and the help she needs to get a good price for her harvest. THE BEST BERRIES BRING CHANGES IN BALE SPOTLIGHT ON MAEF There are more mango trees per square mile in Kenya s Kitui county than almost anywhere else in The dry, sunny weather is ideal for growing mangoes and the trees roots bind farmers soil and provide much needed shade for their other crops. Ethiopia s Bale mountain forest is home to 40-year-old Aliyi and his family. Like countless other families they rely on the abundant natural resources that can be found in the forest to survive. For example, wild coffee is in high demand at markets both in Ethiopia and internationally, and there is a good local demand too. Aliyi once relied on collecting the coffee berries from deep within the forest and drying them on the floor to earn the money he needed to provide for his family. But the leaves and insects on the forest floor often damaged his berries, which meant the coffee he produced was poor quality and fetched a very low price. He struggled to make ends meet and was unable to send his children to school. Things started to change for the family in 2010 when Aliyi joined one of Farm Africa s forest producer groups. Our team of experts in Bale taught Aliyi and the other coffee farmers how to improve the quality of their coffee. Aliyi learnt how to identify the best quality, red berries when they are still on the bush, and was provided with the hessian sacks and other materials he needed to build a drying bed and produce high-quality coffee. Aliyi s carefully selected berries are now dried using his new equipment, and kept away from the pests on the forest floor. Ruth is 60 years old. Ten years ago her husband died, leaving her to raise their children alone. She worked tirelessly processing cotton, selling water and labouring on other people s farms determined to give her children the education that she never had. Aliyi is carefully harvesting the very best coffee berries, ready to dry on his new drying bed. The coffee he produces is much higher quality, so there are many more people keen to buy it, and for a much higher price. And the extra money he earns is helping him transform his children s lives. He is now able to give them more nutritious food and buy medicine when they fall sick. And the best news of all is that his eldest children are now in school giving them the education they need to build a future free from hunger and poverty. By giving just 32 today, you could help provide a farmer with the materials they need to build a drying bed for their coffee berries. Ruth and the other farmers are now producing many more, larger, higher quality mangoes and have a much longer harvesting season. So the next stage will be for Farm Africa to help the farmers set up a processing centre. Here they will be able to turn their mangoes into lucrative products such as juices and jams that can be stored and sold all year round. Ruth is now setting up a mango tree nursery so she can expand her farm and help more farmers grow different varieties. Ruth also has a small farm of her own where she grows maize to eat and mangoes to sell. She bought some mango seedlings at the local market, but despite all her efforts to care for them the fruits she grew were small and often infested with pests. And there were so many mangoes for sale at harvest time, Ruth s crop of small, damaged fruits was almost worthless. But thanks to Farm Africa, Kitui s struggling mango farmers have now learnt how best to care for their seedlings and protect their fruit from pests. Ruth and the other farmers have learnt all about using pesticides and the equipment they need to apply them safely. Farm Africa has also provided the farmers with seedlings for new varieties of mango trees that fruit at different times of the year, when supply is lower and prices are higher. 300 could help establish a fruit processing centre enabling more farmers like Ruth to profit from their fruit production. 06/01/ :39:34

3 WHY ANNET NOW SAYS THE SKY IS HER LIMIT Hideat has received her goats, and is confident of a future free from hunger for her family. MAKING DOUBLE THE DIFFERENCE! Farm Africa supporters gave an incredible 180,000 in response to our Christmas appeal. It focused on our work in Ethiopia s Tigray region, where we are providing poor women with goats and training in how to care for and breed them. Hideat, pictured above, is just one mother who struggles to provide for her children from the sloping, rocky land in Tigray. With poor soil and steep hillsides making it impossible for many families to grow enough food, Hideat, like thousands of others, found herself part of the Ethiopian government s PSNP scheme. This is a safety net programme where she receives food and a little money in exchange for manual labour for six months of the year. As a single parent, and one of the poorest members of her community, Hideat was selected to take part in our goat-rearing programme. And we are delighted to let you know that Hideat has now received three goats! First, she took part in training, where she learnt how to care for goats and all about goat breeding. Following the training, she received her goats and Desta, our project co-ordinator, contacted us recently to let us know that all three goats were pregnant. Hideat will give the first three kids back to the project team, who will distribute them to another poor family in desperate need. By June, when the PSNP scheme finishes for the year, Hideat will have been able to start building up her own herd of goats. They will provide her with an invaluable source of milk and income during the coming months and years and a way of earning money close to home so that she can care for her children. And the best news is that the UK government has matched all the gifts we received to our Christmas appeal, meaning that we can help 6,500 more families in Tigray to build new livelihoods in the coming year. Just 60 could help provide another woman like Hideat with a goat, and the training she needs to breed and care for it. FA Spring From the Field 2013 V4.1 ART.indd year-old widow Annet is a member of the Twekembe Farmers Group, based in Uganda s Nakasongola district. As is commonplace in the area, she relies on what she can produce on her farmland to provide for her young family. But getting a good harvest requires more than just the dedication and hard work that she can provide. Nakasongola and the surrounding districts are blighted with pests and diseases that can wipe out entire fields of crops, leaving the families that rely on them destitute. That is why Farm Africa is working with 450 groups of farmers across Central Uganda helping them to grow disease-resistant varieties of maize, beans and peanuts (or groundnuts as they are known in eastern Africa). Annet s crops provide her family with much more than just food they are her main source of income too. So, as well as providing her with disease-resistant seeds to trial and training in the most efficient farming techniques, Farm Africa has been helping Annet and the rest of the Twekembe group members to sell their crops for a good price. Annet lives in a rural area, and in the past has sold her produce at low prices to local traders who drive around the farms at harvest time, offering farmers instant cash in exchange for their produce. This means farmers often make a rushed decision on what price to accept without knowing what it would be at market. As a result, Farm Africa has been helping Annet and the rest of the farmers to set up a storage system so that they can gather their produce in one place, and then transport it together to markets where they can sell it for a good price. With better seeds and training in new farming techniques, Annet s crops are now flourishing. Thanks to the new seeds, Annet is now producing more than ever. And with the help of Farm Africa she is also selling her maize, beans and peanuts for a much better price. I am now assured of three meals a day and I can pay school costs for my children... I want to build a better house for my family. A gift of just 16 could provide a farmer like Annet with some improved seeds and the help she needs to get a good price for her harvest. THE BEST BERRIES BRING CHANGES IN BALE SPOTLIGHT ON MAEF There are more mango trees per square mile in Kenya s Kitui county than almost anywhere else in The dry, sunny weather is ideal for growing mangoes and the trees roots bind farmers soil and provide much needed shade for their other crops. Ethiopia s Bale mountain forest is home to 40-year-old Aliyi and his family. Like countless other families they rely on the abundant natural resources that can be found in the forest to survive. For example, wild coffee is in high demand at markets both in Ethiopia and internationally, and there is a good local demand too. Aliyi once relied on collecting the coffee berries from deep within the forest and drying them on the floor to earn the money he needed to provide for his family. But the leaves and insects on the forest floor often damaged his berries, which meant the coffee he produced was poor quality and fetched a very low price. He struggled to make ends meet and was unable to send his children to school. Things started to change for the family in 2010 when Aliyi joined one of Farm Africa s forest producer groups. Our team of experts in Bale taught Aliyi and the other coffee farmers how to improve the quality of their coffee. Aliyi learnt how to identify the best quality, red berries when they are still on the bush, and was provided with the hessian sacks and other materials he needed to build a drying bed and produce high-quality coffee. Aliyi s carefully selected berries are now dried using his new equipment, and kept away from the pests on the forest floor. Ruth is 60 years old. Ten years ago her husband died, leaving her to raise their children alone. She worked tirelessly processing cotton, selling water and labouring on other people s farms determined to give her children the education that she never had. Aliyi is carefully harvesting the very best coffee berries, ready to dry on his new drying bed. The coffee he produces is much higher quality, so there are many more people keen to buy it, and for a much higher price. And the extra money he earns is helping him transform his children s lives. He is now able to give them more nutritious food and buy medicine when they fall sick. And the best news of all is that his eldest children are now in school giving them the education they need to build a future free from hunger and poverty. By giving just 32 today, you could help provide a farmer with the materials they need to build a drying bed for their coffee berries. Ruth and the other farmers are now producing many more, larger, higher quality mangoes and have a much longer harvesting season. So the next stage will be for Farm Africa to help the farmers set up a processing centre. Here they will be able to turn their mangoes into lucrative products such as juices and jams that can be stored and sold all year round. Ruth is now setting up a mango tree nursery so she can expand her farm and help more farmers grow different varieties. Ruth also has a small farm of her own where she grows maize to eat and mangoes to sell. She bought some mango seedlings at the local market, but despite all her efforts to care for them the fruits she grew were small and often infested with pests. And there were so many mangoes for sale at harvest time, Ruth s crop of small, damaged fruits was almost worthless. But thanks to Farm Africa, Kitui s struggling mango farmers have now learnt how best to care for their seedlings and protect their fruit from pests. Ruth and the other farmers have learnt all about using pesticides and the equipment they need to apply them safely. Farm Africa has also provided the farmers with seedlings for new varieties of mango trees that fruit at different times of the year, when supply is lower and prices are higher. 300 could help establish a fruit processing centre enabling more farmers like Ruth to profit from their fruit production. 06/01/ :39:34

4 FROM new Tanzania and

5 FROM new Tanzania and