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Martha Walana (center) contributes her share to a traditional savings group. After lean years, Ethiopian farmers save for the future
Africa Boricha District, Ethiopia — Martha Walana remembers a time when she had her own milk cows. In those days, she would sell the milk and save some of the money for home repairs or more livestock. But Walana's cattle died years ago, and like many other farmers in her community, she fell on hard times. Walana, a widow and mother of four, is a farmer in Boricha District, an agricultural area in southern Ethiopia that is vulnerable to famine. Environmental destruction and unusual weather patterns have left many farmers in Boricha District unable to feed their families in recent years. But today, thanks to a project of the Meserete Kristos Church Relief and Development Association, Walana is improving her community's agricultural land, earning money and building a little amount of savings again. The Relief and Development Association is administering a project that pays Walana and about 4,300 other farmers to reclaim eroded pastures and protect their croplands. Each farmer builds about three meters of terraces a day and is paid 96 Ethiopian birr (about $19 Cdn. / $12 U.S.) for every 16 days of labor. The project is supported by MCC and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. "There has been a lot of change," Walana says. "Before, I didn't have any money. Now I have been able to buy clothing for my children and haricot beans and inset seedlings." (Inset is a drought-resistant root vegetable that is a local staple.) Earning money has also allowed Walana to start saving again, as she did when she had cows. She and four neighbors have formed a traditional savings group called an ikub. After they are paid, the group gathers in the shade of a tree, where they pool a portion of their earnings. The ikub members take turns collecting the group's contributions and using the sum to make a significant purchase for their farms — such as cows, sheep, goats, hens or seeds. The Relief and Development Association encourages these traditional savings practices in order to increase the meager assets that local farmers own. Like many of her neighbors, Walana has modest aspirations — reaping successful harvests, keeping her children in school and buying cows and goats with what she earns and saves. |
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