A community-based farm adviser in Malawi is amongst a group of small-scale African farmers to travel recently on a scholarship to attend one of the UK’s leading agricultural training colleges.
Read MoreChampioning Ethiopia’s women farmers
Aster Molammo is a voice for change in her local community.
She dreams that one-day women will have the same rights as men in Doya Gena district of Ethiopia’s SNNPR, and as a member of a local farmers’ cooperative is working to make that change a reality.
Read MoreGoat scheme makes light of challenge
Patrick Kakuru is looking forward to a time when the day no longer ends when the sun goes down.
Like 95% of rural Ugandans, he lives ‘off the grid’, with no access to mains electricity. However, support from a Self Help Africa project has made the future a little brighter.
Read MoreFarm efforts to fund family home
Felister Namfukwe is patiently waiting for the rains to stop to begin work with her sons on the construction of a new family home, paid for with the profits of her farm.
Read MoreQuarter million use farm phone service
A mobile phone information service established by Self Help Africa in 2014 to provide timely information to rural poor farmers, has been used almost a quarter of a million times within its start. Launched in Malawi late last year, the ‘321’ voice activated service provides subscribers to the country’s largest mobile phone network with a suite of farm information services that they can access at the push of a button.
Read MoreChildren’s future motivates Emmanuel
A club foot that makes it difficult to farm the steep mountain slopes of Bukimbiri district in Uganda is just one of the obstacles that 54-year old Emmanuel Ngororano has had to overcome in his life.
But he has succeeded in producing enough to keep his family fed, although he struggles to afford the ever-increasing costs of sending his children to school.
Read MoreFarming for the family
Scovia and Gastone Ndisasirwa are amongst thousands of Ugandans whose lives are being transformed by a scheme supporting the development of fruit and vegetable gardens as a means of improving household nutrition.
Young parents of two girls, their garden now looks as if it could stock a supermarket vegetable counter – with cabbage, amaranthus, papaya and tomato growing alongside pumpkin and other produce.
Read MoreTraining proves fruitful for Anita
Having relied on her husband for money her entire married life, at the age of 49, Zambian Anita Sitatanga is finally enjoying a newfound financial independence thanks to her fruit.
Read MorePeace helps to bridge information gap
Just as mobile telephones have revolutionised the ways we communicate, phone technology is also playing a vital role in transforming the lives of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. For them, the ability to check market prices, or find out at the touch of a button about plant diseases, or when they should sow, is bridging an information gap that has hindered productivity in rural Africa, for generations.
Read MoreLike mother, like daughter
As the leader of of a farmer’s group, 50-year-old potato farmer Fulumina has a lot to be proud about. Despite this achievement, what she is most proud of is her daughter, Grace.
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