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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Techniques for tea

The Vietnamese family Thi Anh in the Tai Nguyen province, depends already twenty years on tea production (2.500 m) and a bit on animal husbandry. The tea tree was bad, they did not know how to apply the techniques well. They applied too much or too little manure. Because they processed the tea manually the production was not much, around 30 kg per month.

Mrs. Mai Thi Anh explains that now they are much more experienced in tea. “We received technical assistance from the Vietnam National Farmers Union (VNFU) and have drying and curling machines. The work load is reduced a lot. Production has increased, we can now process 300 kg of tea per month. Our work is more efficient. We can get a loan from the Agricultural Development Bank using the VNFU’s name as collateral.

The technical support is very important to us, it has improved our lives. Also the support of VNFU in producing compost is very important, because now we can produce safe tea which is better for our health. Our economy has improved, every member of VNFU has a television, machines, gas cooker, and a concrete house. It is important to involve women in training, they now have technical knowledge and can share their experiences with men”.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Market linkage transforms fortunes for mango growers in Kenya

The example of the Mavindini cooperative in Kenya illustrates how a cooperative has initiated and facilitated the way out of the cotton crisis for their members by joined reflection, study tours, by their potential to attract more important traders and by their ability to immediately provide adapted extension services (whereas the official extension services mainly bring the general messages on classic crops). The membership remains however quite limited up till today, indicating high thresholds to access for vulnerable farmers.

“A member of Mavindini multi-purpose cooperative in South Eastern Kenya tells about a special evolution in his life and within the cooperative. The cooperative was formed in 2002 to improve the production and marketing of cotton (at a time when the cotton sub-sector was declining). Active membership shrunk to 69 (51 men and 18 women) and the cooperative couldn’t provide inputs anymore. Sons and daughters of many farmers went to work in big towns in Kenya and parents became dependent on their remittances. Support to the cooperative started in 2006 and facilitated a reflection between the farmers on possible ways to improve their livelihoods, insisting on opening their minds for alternatives. Options were limited because the area is regularly affected by drought. The cooperative decided to explore the collective marketing of mangoes as an alternative. 8-9 months of intensive seminars and a market orientation study visit to fruit exporters and processors in Mombasa took place. One exporter expressed interest in making a business deal with the cooperative. He offered a price of 10 shillings per piece of mango, 7 shillings more than the price paid by local middlemen. Unfortunately, only ten farmers had maintained their trees to the standards of the exporter. Therefore the cooperative supported to provide extension services for the maintenance of mango trees. In 2007, 46 additional farmers managed to sell to the exporter and in 2008 another 158 farmers joined. The member expects to earn 300,000 shillings in 2008 from mangoes compared to 40,000 shillings in 2007. He states: ‘I didn’t realise that a farmer can earn more than people who are employed in the big cities. I am now better off than many people there’.”

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Not proud, but happy nevertheless

Mandala Somakka is a member of the recently founded Dairy Cooperation, which is a joint initiative of (among others) the Indian development organisation GRAM and the IIMF (an organisation for rural women and female dairy farmers).

The IIMF started as savings and credit cooperation, but has recently begun endeavors to become a ‘producer company’ in the field of dairy and related products. Since 2007 Agriterra has supported the IIMF in this process.

Mandala Somakka has been a member of a so called self help group (SHG) for 9 years. These SHG’s in turn, are members of a MACS (a group for savings and loans). Mandala has been a member of a MACS for 5 years. Both the SHG’s as well as the MACS are supported by the GRAM and the IIMF.

Mandala claims to be 45 years old and has 3 children, two sons and a daughter in the age of 35, 27 and 25 respectively. In reality it is very likely that Mandala is a fair bit older than 45, given the age of her eldest. (It is not uncommon for local women in the area not to know their own age.)

In the past, the economic situation of Mandala and her family was not quite so positive. This has changed since she became involved in the self help group, the savings and loans group and a milk project with water buffalos through the dairy cooperation. The family does not own land, but they do have seven water buffalos, which are herded by her husband. The buffalo milk produce provides the family with a regular income, turning Mandala from a poor landless farmer into an independent dairy farmer.

Mandala tells us that initially she and the other women had quite some trouble convincing their husbands that they should be able to engage in activities outside the family home. Thanks to women’s joint effort and determination, all husbands have eventually accepted the fact that they cannot control their wives. Now that the women are generating extra income for the family with their dairy project, the husbands are delighted. (Mandala’s daughter is also involved in the project, she tells us.)

Thanks to the milk project, Mandala’s life has undergone significant changes. “In the old days I used to work on the land owner’s land, for very little pay and I was the servant of my husband and sons. Now I have my own cattle and I am the leader of our milk project. I feel like a person now, respected, not only by my husband and children, but also in my village”.

Is Mandala proud of all the things she has achieved? “I am not proud, but I am happy”. It is her dream to buy her own land, to grow vegetables on. She also whishes for a good future for their children and for them to be able to pursue their own dreams.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Challenges in Burkina Faso

Support to collective marketing systems of farmers in Burkina Faso (for ten years) has increased its scale and decreased vulnerability of the members. The combined support for agriculture productivity, marketing and for improved access to credit through the Union des Groupements pour la Commercialisation des Produits Agricoles de la Boucle du Mouhoun (UGCPA-BM) has been crucial for the success. The membership base is still relatively weak in terms of numbers however, and hasn’t been able to break the vulnerability circle of doing business individually with local private traders by a good part of the non members. Despite good progress, the cooperatives have not reached economic viability yet.


“In Burkina Faso, the Union des Groupements pour la Commercialisation des Produits Agricoles de la Boucle du Mouhoun (UGCPA-BM) brings together products from 1.550 small scale farmers (1050 women and 500 men). The marketing involves mainly dried grains, sesame and bissac. The success took off, thanks to an integrated economic approach which includes marketing and an annual credit line of 500 million CFA, strengthening of the warehouse systems and extension services to members. This has made them strong players in the market and allowed them to decrease farmers’ vulnerability to market fluctuations. UPA-DI is only one of 6 donor programs that UGCPA-BM benefited from and thus the success cannot be fully attributed to UPA-DI. An evaluation in 2006, points clearly out the advantages of being member of UGCPA-BM: by having direct payment when delivering grains to the warehouse; proximity of the warehouse; equipment to clean grains; possibility to sell small quantities of grains; possibility for supply during hunger periods. Also for Bissap there were important results. The production has increased from 1.6 tons in 1996 to 40 tonnes in 2007. The production is bio-certified with efforts of the organisation, which gives access to European markets and to better prices for the product. However, the membership is limited to about 1.500 farmers, meaning that the majority of farmers isn’t member of UGCPA-BM. Reasons of the relatively low membership numbers, are the fact that many of the farmers are still only producing for subsistence and don’t have surplus for the warehouse. Secondly, the fact that some farmers are bound to private traders, from which it is difficult to escape, limits membership. Another challenge is the financial sustainability of UGCPA-BM, not reached yet in 2006.”

Monday, January 5, 2009

A traditional raincoat for tourists

Mrs Chao Su May is farmer in the Lao Cai province in Vietnam. She also collects medicines from the forest, sells medicines and receive guests in home stay. Mrs Chao Su May gives a glimpse inside her life.

When I was 13 there was no paved road to Sapa town. I got up at 3 a.m. and walked 40 km (10 hours!) to the market in Sapa, where I sold medicine. As we had no torches at that time, we used burning wood to find our way in the dark. There were no guesthouses in Sapa yet, so we had to sleep outside on the ground, using the fur of a buffalo which was tied onto our back. This ‘traditional raincoat’ is now exposed to the tourists in the information centre, established by the Agriterra project.
My father was a very handy man. He could make a gun in one day. He also made guns for other people in the village. To pay him back they had to work for two days in his fields.
At that time my family was already growing maize. We didn’t have fertiliser, so the yield was very low: only one pack. From the New Year Festival (in January/February) until May we did not have enough food and we were hungry. Nowadays we can harvest three packs of maize.

From a governmental programme we receive technical training. As a result of this we have a better yield and have food all year round. Now there is a road, so we can transport our products to the market. We have a higher production and enough to eat, but we still lack the money to buy necessary goods. We notice the climate is changing; we used to have silkworm here, from which we produced silk to make cloths, especially wedding cloths. Now, the silkworm has gone and we have to buy the silk on the market.
In the earlier days we collected a lot of medicine from the forests but we did not know the exact effect. Now we get help from the university to examine the effect of the different types of medicine, and also how to make the best medicinal steam bath, which we offer to tourists.
Many tourists nowadays come to our village. We don’t think it is good to chase them around in the village trying to sell our handicrafts, so we only sell our handicrafts here in the information centre. I have started my own business, I receive tourists who can stay overnight in my homestead and I sell medicine.

The paved road, fertilisers and technical training from the government all helped us with improving our production so that we have enough to eat. It also helped us to sell our products in the market of Sapa. The assistance from the university in making a good medicinal steam bath is also important to me. I know more about medicine now and I can attract more tourists.
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