Empower Women through Training in Agriculture and Entrepreneurship

This project sought to increase farm productivity and improve the nutritional intake of farmer families in the semi-arid centre region of Tanzania, where most farmers manage a very small farm. As women carry a big responsibility in agriculture, emphasis was placed on training them in improved farming methods: irrigation, drought-resistant crops, techniques to avoid erosion, improve the soil, use grey water etc. Female farmers were trained as trainers, and they disseminated the acquired know-how in 26 villages, allowing 1 495 women to produce more food and better feed their families. Unfortunately, due to water scarcity, less vegetables than expected were harvested in the kitchen gardens. The women learned in basic micro-entrepreneurship trainings how to strengthen their resilience against shocks by better exploiting agrarian income possibilities.