17 January 2003
Thinking outside the
square
Farmers in
Chata normally pay back loans by selling their maize crop, but in a one-week
credit management course held last year, World Vision encouraged farmers
to consider other alternatives.
The course taught approximately 290 mainly female farmers how to keep
records and plan loan repayments.
Suggested alternative ways of raising money for loan repayments included
doing casual labour, growing vegetables for sale or, if they have woodlands,
to sell trees.
An exciting aspect of the training was that the farmers contributed to
the course cost by providing enough money to pay for flour used for their
meals. This is an indication that farmers in Chata are ‘owning’
programme activities and wish to be actively involved in community initiatives.
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