Self-Sufficient Farms Ease Pandemic’s Effects
Mrs. Seilung has been an active member of her Self-Help Group and Farmers Group since she joined in 2015 to learned new ways to support her family of six. Her husband’s income as a day laborer was not enough to meet all their needs, but her improved farming skills have more than doubled their income, put nutritious food on the table, and allowed her children to go to school.
During COVID-19 lockdowns, program participants like Mrs. Seilung were able to feed their families from their kitchen gardens and farms. Local partner NEICORD has continued conducting training during the pandemic after the initial lockdowns were lifted. Earlier in the year sessions were limited to 10 participants, but now that restrictions have loosened groups of up to 100 are able to gather and learn together through hands-on training events.
Over the years Mrs. Seilung has attended many such events, which offer improved methods of farming, livestock rearing, kitchen gardening, leadership and health. She is a quick study and a hard worker, and has always employed all her new skills at home. NEICORD helped her obtain good quality fruit-tree saplings, and through her own initiative she managed to buy vegetable seeds and piglets. She grows a variety of vegetables in her backyard and raises pigs for meat and income. As a mother she loves providing her children with healthy food straight from her own garden. Her next goal is to learn to cultivate mushrooms.
Mrs. Seilung is also dedicated to sharing what she knows with her whole community, and encourages her neighbors to use all the agricultural techniques she has learned. As she and others proved during this pandemic, greater agricultural self-sufficiency is a blessing.
India Umsning Program
Led by World Renew and Local Partner NEICORD