Tag Archives: Asia/South Pacific

Investment in Women Farmers IS Priority for Heifer

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I recently read an article from the World Watch Institute that said there are “low investments in women farmers, despite their important contributions to global food security.”

Dharam Shila Panday is member of Lakshmi Women'€™s group.

Photograph by Geoff Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer International

I’m familiar with the general facts –

Women have limited access to land.

Women have limited access to credit.

Women have limited access to education.

And yet, “[women] produce as much as 50 percent of the agricultural output,” according to World Watch Institute.

Heifer has continually recognized the importance of empowering women, especially women working in agriculture. In a previous post, The Role of Social Capital in Heifer’s Work, I mentioned Heifer’s Theory of Change, which is a process that Heifer developed to support families and individuals move from vulnerability to sustainability.

A Nepal project participant shares her story.

Photograph by Geoff Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer International

Our Theory of Change recognizes that in order for women farmers to fully maximize their capacity to feed the world, we need to ensure that we provide them with opportunities to empower them. Women need access to and control over their income and assets, they need to participate in the decision making at household and community levels (this is one of our 12 Cornerstones), and they need to hold roles of leadership.

To achieve these objectives, Heifer has developed measures implemented in ALL of our projects.

But it isn’t just about saying what we are going to do; it’s about seeing that work in action. In Nepal, the Women Group Coordination Committee (WGCC) is an organization that has been working with Heifer. In 1993, before the WGCC was formed, 25 women came together and approached a bank for a loan. Not surprisingly, they were denied. These women had the desire and the drive, but they lacked support. Through connections, they were introduced to Heifer. Fast forward, and the WGCC established themself as a non-governmental organization and serve as an implementing project

Documenting project progress.

Photograph by Geoff Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer International

partner with Heifer. To date, WGCC has helped implement more than eight projects and assisted more than 7,000 families and continues to play a key role in Heifer’s work. These advances have been possible because we are working with incredibly energetic women (and men) and because we have developed monitoring and measuring tools that open a pathway for women project participants to make decisions and define the outcomes they want for themselves and their families.

I met with many women during my last trip to Nepal and spoke about empowering women from within in a previous blog post. These women are incredible, and they understand how they are capable of transformation. It is my conversations with these women that have helped Heifer use our model to increase our impact, which you can read about in Heifer Nepal: How Far Can We Go to End Hunger and Poverty.

Heifer International's CEO Pierre Ferrari listens to a group meeting of the Pooja women's group.

Photography by Geoff Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer International

There is still much work to be done, but as I read this article from World Watch Institute, I know that Heifer is making the investment – with excellent results.

Heifer China Eases a Mother’s Burden

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When we visited Zhang Min’s home again, she looked very unhappy because her husband’s illness continues to worsen. Wang Chunqiang has AIDS, and he has no appetite and feels sick all the time. This also means that he is unable to work. He told us his family sold two goats this year and bought another female one, who had delivered two goat babies already. “Thanks for Heifer’s help! ” he says. Zhang Min added, “We raise goats so that we could get money by selling them in an emergency. Heifer really helps us in this way. Now we bought another goat again; she had babies as well. The hope is endless.”

Heifer China: A woman cooks in a household affected by AIDS in Anhui Province

Zhang Min cooks at her home in Wangzhuyuan Village, Anhui Province, China.

As for the last Chinese New Year, it was good that they got RMB 200 (about US $31), as well as two bags of flour from the government. Zhang Min’s sister also gave them two fish, two ducks and 5kg of meat — meat is not something this family usually has available to them. Their son, Wang Haoran, has studied hard, and his final exam scores were good. This brings great pleasure to Zhang Min.

There’s another happy event in this unlucky family. We heard Zhang Min has been elected as National People’s Congress deputy of the town. “Thanks to Heifer, I enjoy this honor.” Zhang Min smiled. There are a lot of weddings or birthday invitations in this village, and Zhang Min had to give gifts to them according to local custom, which is a burden to this family. But for future, Zhang Min is still optimistic and confident because of Heifer.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Our colleagues in the field have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates. You can read the first post about Zhang Min and her family here.

Heifer increases goat productivity in Nepal

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In January Heifer launched its dream project for Nepal, Strengthening Livestock Value Chain (SLVC). Its goals are to increase meat and milk production to substitute current imports and create a unique value chain for meat and milk that incorporates smallholder farmers not only in the production phase but also in marketing it. But there was a glitch. Over the years degradation of genetic merit in goats resulted in lower levels of productivity. In layman’s terms, they had fewer babies who did not grow as well and farmers could not sell them for good prices.

Farmers of Ladavir in the Sindhuli district in eastern foothills of Nepal are a part of a unique classroom under the Community Initiative for Genetic Improvement in Goats (CIGIG). Here they learn about how to improve production of goats through selective breeding. These farmers are not new to rearing goats but what they learn in this classroom will teach them to do so in a more scientific way through observation and intervention. To put it simply, it’s the Mendel’s Law in action. A pool of healthy genetically superior does and bucks will be produced by the end of the project and will be marketed across communities around the country to in-turn increase their production. Ladavir will be a training ground and resource village for genetically superior high productivity goats.

Heifer’s work around the world is not just limited giving animals and agricultural inputs if farmers but also extends to doing what needs to be done to bridge the gaps between the present that the future that Heifer envisioned together with the families it works with. CIGIG is one such initiative.

Participants of the first CIGIG class mull over a poster that depicts how to select a good male and female goat from physical traits for breeding.

The Niuniu Family’s Hope in the New Spring

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Three months have passed by and there is great news to Pite Niuniu’s family that his wife, Azhe Zuotu, has given birth to a healthy baby girl!

After Chinese Lunar New Year, the eldest child, who is 16 years old, went to Guangdong trying to find a job. The two sons have begun their new semester. They go to school in the day time and after school both of them need to help the family with chores. And, now they have a new job: looking after their baby sister who is now just less than two months old.

Every March is the time for spring plowing, and that also means it’s a time of great expense. The family spent 1500 RMB (about US $230) for animal feeding, $30 for grass seed, $80 for fertilizer, and bought 200 kg of potatoes. Another big cost is for the new Yi village, a housing project supported by the local government, which will provide about $3,140 for each family. The rest of the construction cost for each family home (about $6,300) needs to be supplied by the family. More than 70 families will join in the construction here in Zhaojue County, Sichuan Province.

Pete's wife is paring potatoes

Azhe Zuotu paring potatoes.

Azhe Zuotu, a self help group member, participated in the trainings of grass planting, animal rearing, drug prevention and the 12 Cornerstones. She also took part in the community events of art performance and tree planting, and she did all these things while in the final three months of her pregnancy.

Spring is the beginning of the new year, and we Chinese have a saying: “Plan your year in Spring.” Pite Niuniu and his family hope the rain will come early to end the drought and the pregnant sow will give birth smoothly and bring them as many piglets as possible. They also hope the construction of the new Yi village will be done soon so they can move into their new house. All of these are giving them some excitement and happiness.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Read the first post about Pite Niuniu and his family here.

Progress Moves from Family to Community

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Ganga Ale is fast on her way to becoming a leader in her community. As the only educated member of her women’s group, Ganga feels that it is her responsibility to lead her community towards a better life. She received five goats from Heifer and trainings that boosted her
confidence.

In the past three months her family’s potato farm has raked in two quintals of produce, almost twice what she produced last year. She now was 14 goats, and she bought some more with a loan from the group fund. They need a new pen, which she and her husband will build later this month. This pen will be improved as she was taught in Heifer’s animal management trainings. Her eldest daughter, Yamuna, will be graduating from school this year. Ganga is excited about her daughter going to college. She wants her to study business so she can also learn a few things from her to implement in her farm.

There are plans to build a road connecting the village to the main highway. Ganga plans to be involved in negotiating the maximum budget from the village development committee. “This road will improve the market linkage for our produces. We have high hopes for the future,” she
said. 
Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Today’s post is the second in a series of  quarterly updates on the progress of Ganga Ale and her family. You can read the first post about this family here.

Tiwah’s Hope for a Better Future

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Thai New Year (Songkran) has just ended, and after Thai and other ethnic groups living in Thailand celebrated the long holiday, life is now back to normal. Like other families, Tiwah Subsawanya’s family celebrated Thai New Year (or water festival); however, one of their sons had an accident during Songkran.

The day Heifer Thailand staff visited the family, they were organizing a blessing ceremony for their last child Nithipat Subsawanya, who is 7 years old. Nithipat fell off the car during the water festival, but he is still a cheerful boy.  His wound is getting much better day after day, and the doctor’s appointment to take out the stitches is within a few days. “We consulted with the village’s spiritual leader, he suggested we organize the blessing ceremony for our son,” says the family’s father of four children, Korla Subsawanya.

Amidst the bad luck, Tiwah’s family got a new family member.  Her first daughter gave birth to a new baby boy, who is now three months old.  They named the boy Tokipo, which means “little parrot” in the Karen ethnic language.

Also, the sow they received from Heifer gave birth to 10 piglets, but due to the sow’s health she cannot produce enough milk to feed her ten babies, resulting in one piglet’s death. For this, Tiwah and her husband Korla decided to move their sow and piglets to raise at Korla’s younger brother’s pen. They hope that by changing to a new environment and bigger pen their pigs will be healthier.

Now is summer so Tiwah’s family is preparing the ground for the upcoming cultivation season. Tiwah and Korla are clearing cabbages from the previous cultivation and will grow peanuts soon. They also prepare the rice fields for approaching rainy season. The rice crop is for their family’s consumption while cabbages and peanuts are for sale. Even though their cabbages are yielding a crop now, they decided to clear up the land because it is not worth hiring the truck to carry the cabbages to the market since their village is located on the mountain about two hours from the city. “Hiring a truck will cost about 2,000 Baht a day including gasoline, so it’s not worth selling the crop since cabbage price is very low now,” says Tiwah Subsawanya.

In terms of project activity, recently Tiwah attended an organic farming exposure trip where  she learned to make organic pesticides from local herbs. After the trip she shared this knowledge with her husband. “We haven’t started to apply the knowledge yet because it is off farming season, but we are planning to use it during the upcoming farming season. I’m sure it will help reduce cost of farming if we use herbs as the substitute of chemicals.” Korla says.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Today’s post is the second in a series of  quarterly updates on the progress of Tiwah Subsawanya and her family. You can read the first post about this family here.

Sopheap’s Story: A Widow Struggles for Family Life

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Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Today’s post is the second in a series of  quarterly updates on the progress of Khuon Sopheap and her family. You can read the first post about Sopheap here.

by Heifer Cambodia

Ten months after joining the POG group, Ms. Khuon Sopheap has actively participated in group activities including monthly meetings, a savings program and attending literacy class. Through these technical and non-technical trainings, her knowledge and life skills have been improved while her attitude and behavior have been changed. She has shared what she learned with her family members and other villagers.

During the last four months, Sopheap and her family members keep practicing simple techniques in swine productions. With help from her daughters, Sophea and Sophort, she cleans the pen, troughs and the pigs before feeding them. She puts mosquito nets on the pen to protect the pigs from being bitten by mosquitoes that might affect the pigs’ health, which could lead to adverse weight loss. The family is happy to take good care of their pigs. So far, her family decreased buying commercial feed for feeding the pigs as its price goes up. Instead, the family increases using their local available resources including banana trees, morning glories and so forth for the pigs’ feed by applying knowledge they gained from the training. Moreover, Sophea and Sophort always spend their free time to find aquatic plants from the river as supplementary feed for the pigs. Now each pig is around 60 kilograms, and very healthy. Sopheap hopes she will receive the pigs’ offspring soon.

“Although my pigs do not yet give me income, I can see they are growing from day to day. I really hope they will become my family’s main resource of income when they produce piglets during the next few months. With the piglets I will be able to enhance my swine production,” Sopheap says.

After the flood destroyed her home garden late last year, her family now restores a plot of 15 square meters of land behind the house to grow varieties of vegetables for improving the family members’ nutrition. The family is more aware of sanitation and hygiene through keeping the household campus clean. Now all her family members regularly drink water that has first been boiled.

Sopheap is actively participating in group saving. Starting in June 2011, the total group fund increased up to 1 million Riels (US $250), of which 38,500 Riels belongs to Sopheap. Within this period, Sopheap is able to cash 18,500 Riels as voluntary savings.

“Participation in the group activities gives me huge benefits as we are able to help each other when we face any problem. We can take loans with a very low interest rate from our group to do small business or ease any difficulty in the family,” she says.

Story by: Chheang Sok Mao, Northwest Regional Program Officer
Contribution by: Prak Somathy, Communication and Networking Manager

Sopheap feeds her pigs. She puts mosquito nets on the pen to protect the pigs from being bitten by mosquitoes that might affect the pig’s health.
Shopeap works at her kitchen garden. She plants vegetables for improving her family members’ nutrition.
Her daughter Sophea boils water for the family members drinking.

 

Family Leads Community Towards Sustainability

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Durga Koirala has been very busy in the past 3 months. She received a buffalo from Heifer and only had oxen for draft power. The income from selling buffalo’s milk this quarter helped pay the school tuition for her two sons Sushil (17) and Sudip (16). Durga’s husband is very impressed with the things she has learned from the project. He is so impressed with the group fund that the members have started and how the members of Durga’s group have been using small loans from it to invest in income generating activities, that he too formed a men’s group with his friends and started a group savings of his own. “It has been difficult to get funds when we need them. I didn’t realize that saving a few rupees every month would solve the problem,” Padam said.

Durga’s sons have been pretty busy too. Sushil and Sudip have formed a youth group. Their plan is to engage the youth in the community in creative and community building activities. Durga seems to have communicated the essence of the trainings she received through the project very well to her family.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Initially, this series will focus on our programs in Asia/South Pacific, where our colleagues have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates.

A piece of land to live in

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Laxmi’s family is landless. The small house she and her family live on is on government land. When she received two goats from Heifer it seems like she and her husband would no longer have to struggle to put food on the table for her son Bishal (8) and daughter Trishala (1). Things were so bad for the family that Bishal had to go live with his maternal uncle as Laxmi could not feed him. But things have been better than they expected.

A steady income from goats has enabled the family to lease a plot of land and grow crops. Half of this goes to the land owners but the half that remains gives the family something to rely on. Laxmi and her husband have planted mustard and lentils. The burms of the land have fodder growing in them for the goats. In the next few months the goat kids will be old enough to sell. The family lives comfortably for now, but there is much to do. Laxmi’s dream is to buy a plot of land in the same village. With Heifer’s inputs and training, Laxmi feels she can live her dream.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Initially, this series will focus on our programs in Asia/South Pacific, where our colleagues have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates.

A Step Closer

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Maya Rani Thau is landless. She and her husband, Gopi work day and night on a small piece of leased land for half the land’s yield. She received two goats from Heifer and trainings that taught her to get the maximum benefit out of the land and animals. Her dream is for her three sons to go to college and get reputed jobs.

Maya Rani's oxen

There is good news Maya Rani wants to share. They bought a pair of oxen with the profit from the goats and a small loan from the group fund. Now ploughing the land will not be so hard. The oxen will also produce manure that will be used to fertilize. She hopes that the next crop will be profitable enough to lease some more land.

Her husband, who used  to be an alcoholic, is now better. He helps her out a lot with the animals and the farm. Maya feels she is step closer to the life she dreams for her sons.