Integrated Farming
In 2014, Empower Tanzania’s Nanny Project is getting a new name: The Integrated Farming Project. Why? Because our farmers are branching out way beyond goats!
In mid-2013, the farmers voted to spend their continuing education money on a short course in poultry farming that has succeeded beyond our wildest imaginations, and trust me, we have WILD imaginations! Ten farmers were trained for 3 days to build safe and sterile chicken houses, and to raise chickens not just for home consumption, but for market. In the Same District, over half the chickens in the market must be imported from South Africa each week, because there is such a shortage of farmers able to produce large numbers of birds and eggs. Can you say market void?! This morning, we got word from Elias Leasa, who manages this project, that he is seeing huge progress. Elias recently graduated with a degree in business that he is really enjoying using with our farmers, and I think it’s safe to say, they are enjoying it also. Here is the email.
Good morning dada Sheri,
Happy new year 2014. It is a new year and everything now is new to us.
I’m much excited to write to you that I’m starting to see the product of the entrepreneurship training we have conducted in Hedaru. People life are changing toward high income earning.
Today in the morning I visited Hedaru to see the progress of the farmers.
During entrepreneurship training about chicken-keeping, I taught farmers how they will become rich via chickens. I told them to think about producing chicks and selling it and I suggested to them the good way is to buy an incubator. Finally Tunzo bought the first incubator, and will begin to sell chicks in the village. Please find herewith the attached pictures of Tunzo’s Incubator.
yours, Elias Leasa
This is a very significant update from Elias. Thanks to Empower Tanzania partners, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Ames, Iowa, who did a fundraiser for Christmas to start more poultry farmers in Hedaru, we will have an additional 20+ farmers going through training and starting farms in Hedaru in 2014.
We are also in the midst of fundraising on Crowdrise.com to begin a new Integrated Farming site in Masandare, Tanzania. That site will begin with ten goat farmers, like Hedaru, and eventually grow into gardening and chickens.