Improving agriculture, Securing development

Project Background 

The Sisters of the Good Shepherd aim to train heads of families in the village of Manao No Zina in the basics of crop farming, cattle farming, and raising livestock. During the 12 month project, divided into 2 training sessions, 22 women and 3 men will have the opportunity to develop individual micro-projects to practice the skills acquired in class. 

These women and men have been selected from among the poorest in the community. The selection criteria for female participants includes poor women who want to improve their quality of life, married women whose husbands do not assume responsibility for the family, and single female parents with children. Three men are currently trained as they work alongside the sisters and so become the trainers to others as the project continues and develops. 

The training offers the women the opportunity to work on individual land cultivation projects on a land rented from the Diocese. The women are also trained in raising livestock by working on the Sisters’ farm. 

The project staff includes two sisters, two teachers and an external evaluator. After one year, the participants will be involved in an evaluating session run by the local and foreigner coordinator to assess the level of satisfaction and the skills acquired during the 12 months of training. This evaluation will define the future direction the project will take and the focus on the micro project. 

The success of the project could be hampered by the level of poverty and high illiteracy of the people. To address the ‘drop out’ rate the Sisters offer free transportation and meals to the participants and their teaching approach is a ‘hands on’ method. 

Before starting the agriculture project the Good Shepherd Sisters in Manao no Zina also worked in:

• Community development: 2 sisters work with 2 lay people in family development;
• The Empowerment of Women: training in manual work, formation to Christian life, life skills training for young girls unable to attend school because of their inability to pay tuition;
• Dispensary: open to 5 or 6 communities in the area providing food and medicines for undernourished children, orphans and medication for the poorest;
• Vocational advocacy Work: they help some in seeking employment. 

Problem 

Madagascar suffers from a severe food crisis, due to the global increase in the price of rice, which is the main staple consumed in Manao No Zina. According to the March 2008 FAO bulletin, the global price of rice rose 75% in the previous two months. In addition, the country’s agriculture is structurally weak due to the archaic methods used in farming. These traditions and their monoculture result in production insufficiency. 

An additional factor is the absence of land titles (and thus of collateral to present to banks for investment or harvest loans). Only 10% of the population concerned have title deeds to their land; The government launched a national land program (PNF) in 2004 to improve the situation by opening 21 land offices whose task is to make existing title deeds more secure, and to issue new ones where they do not exist.

Although Madagascar’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing has made efforts to improve on cultural practices in the country through better planting use of fertilizers, modern techniques, equipment, irrigation, etc., this has not been adopted in Manao No Zina, where methods remain traditional.  

Objective:

To enhance the living conditions of families in Manao No Zina, Madagascar by addressing a target population:

• 22 women and 3 men, all heads of families, will become economically independent by learning to cultivate their land using more effective agricultural technology.
• Improve the productivity levels
• Ability to become self sufficient and provide for the needs of their families.
• Generate both socio economic and environmental results - the methods taught to the group are 100% eco friendly. 

Results/Work in Progress… 

• The first period – December 2008 - was dedicated to the acquisition of the knowledge in class, 7 hours a day (7:30-11:30 ; 2:00-5:00), 5 days a week.
• During the second period, between January and June 2009, the beneficiaries had a session in class in the morning, and a training session in the field in the afternoon.
• Since July, the beneficiaries have done both group work in the morning and individual work in the afternoon, all day long in the field. The third period gave also the opportunity to consolidate the knowledge by correcting the mistakes and distributing specification sheets. 

The studied subjects were:

During the first period: vegetable production and other subjects:

• Getting to know the soil, Fertilisation, Soil Conservation, Botany, Rice-based systems, Plant root and tubers, Vegetable crops;
• Household management, Health and hygiene, Civics. 

During the second period: animal breeding: Animal General, Rabbits, Pig farming, General Pathology, Parasitology, Food polygastric, Food monogastric, Poultry rearing.