Local farmers were planting an average of two acres of corn each, from which they typically harvested around 2,200lb. But none of the farmers were processing the corn and turn it into high-value produce like flour and animal feed.

Making corn go further

By training women corn farmers to use an ox-plough so their land was better prepared and helping them to use improved seeds, they were able to grow significantly bigger harvests. We also:

• introduced drying racks to reduce post-harvest wastage
• formed co-operative societies to train women famers to produce finished products like bran, quality flour and charcoal.

These products were sold to earn extra money for household expenses, school and medical costs as well to help farmers buy additional land.