Success Story

Smallholder women farmers increase their yields and incomes in Telangana

Rathalavath Vijalaxmi is a smallholder farmer from Dachakpally village in Telangana, India. She farms three acres of land along with her husband and three sons. As a young farmer cultivating vegetables like tomatoes, okra, beans, ridge gourds, and chili, Rathalavath often struggles to earn enough from selling her crops to make ends meet for her family. Prior to becoming involved in the Siddipet Horticulture Project, her farm produced an average yield of five to six metric tons.

Overcoming social stigma in Bogotá: Meet Michelle

Originally from Venezuela, Michelle migrated to Colombia in 2018 in search of better opportunities after being unable to continue with her studies in her home country. However, life in Bogotá came with challenges of its own. After more than 70 unsuccessful interviews, the only jobs she could find were of an informal nature.

Empowering women in the mint supply chain: Meet Usha Devi

Usha Devi is a mint farmer in Mubarkapur village in Zaidpur cluster of Barabanki District in India. She is also a project participant in the co-created Shubh Mint Project. For Usha, Shubh Mint provides more than an economic lifeline, it empowers her to improve a difficult living situation.

Rosalie Bafiogo: My Moment of Lift

My name is Rosalie Bafiogo. I am 60 years old, and I live in Guru in the Centre-Ouest region of Burkina Faso.

Prior to working with SELEVER, my job was weaving fabrics in addition to taking care of my household. However, I had to give up because my vision was weak. In the meantime, I had become responsible for the promotion of breastfeeding in my village, and through that work I was made aware of the opportunity of women’s poultry farming. I wondered what more I could learn about poultry, as I had raised poultry in the past. On the insistence of the councilor of our village, our women’s group had a very interesting first meeting with a microfinance institution that was promoting the activity. We did not know that poultry could bring so much money and benefits to the family including nutrition. After this meeting, we decided to form a poultry production group, and I was chosen as secretary.

Power to the farmer: Closing the information gap for smallholder farmers in Andhra Pradesh

Tanager, through the Walmart Foundation-funded Andhra Pradesh Farmer Market Readiness Project, introduced Kinubudi and his Farmer Producer Group to MFN and provided training on how to use the app to connect to buyers. The MFN app is simple to use. With a few clicks, sellers upload what they have to offer allowing the buyers to then bid on the produce. Farmers select the buyer offering the best price. The Farmers Producer Group then collects the produce in bulk and delivers it to the buyer, saving the farmer even more time.

Saving Jayesh’s peanut crop in Gujarat

Jayesh Bhai Jaman Bhai Bhakkad is a 41-year-old farmer from Thanapipli, Junagadh, Gujarat (western India). For 24 years, Jayesh farmed cash crops like cotton, peanuts, and vegetables using traditional farming methods. Last year, Jayesh began noticing a decline in his output and income, due in part to a fungus that was attacking his peanut crop.  In response, he sought out training programs from a local university, spent INR 6000 on pesticides to combat the unknown virus that was yellowing his normally green peanut plants. However, despite Jayesh’s efforts in applying the pesticide and taking classes from the local university, his crop continued to wilt.

Learning for Life in Colombia: Meet Tatiana

Tatiana Arenas Londoño is one of the 120 participants in DIAGEO’s Learning for Life Program, implemented by Tanager in Colombia. The program’s goal is to provide income-generating opportunities for young people in vulnerable situations through an eight-month certified workforce development training program, psychosocial support, and job placement in the formal sector through six-month internships.

Navya farms okra to tackle poverty & malnutrition in Andhra Pradesh, India

Conditions in Andhra Pradesh, India can make life difficult for smallholder farmers. When drought combines with poor soil health, profits can be slim. To make matters worse, to save money farmers often rely on staple crops as their only food source. These staple crops are high in carbohydrates but low in vitamins and nutrients. This lack of dietary diversity leads to malnutrition, further driving down productivity and incomes. The APFMRP project – implemented by Tanager – is working in Andhra Pradesh to break this vicious cycle and give farmers the opportunity to earn more money and live happier and healthier lives.

She overcame a disability to become an entrepreneur in Burkina Faso

“Previously, it was unimaginable for a woman to think that, like a man, she could raise poultry to sell for income. But today, things are changing,” says Bibata Traoré, from the village of Ouahabou in Burkina Faso. At the age of 44, this mother of five worked selling flour and ground peanuts to help her husband cover health care and education costs for their children. Now, thanks to her hard work and Tanager’s expertise, she has overcome a disability to become an entrepreneur.

A sign of progress: Improving literacy for women in Uttar Pradesh

The Ganga Women Self Help Group in Ujarwara village, Fatehpur block, Uttar Pradesh is just one of 319 SHGs formed under the Shubh Mint project. The group is comprised of twelve women, eleven of whom initially could neither read nor write their own names. This deficiency in their education had dire consequences: women were dependent on others for every aspect of their financial life, a heavy burden was placed on the one woman who was literate, and there was a general lack of confidence among the members of the group stemming from this gap in their education.