Fulfilling Dreams in Record Time
Patricia, a sesame farmer and mother of two, is happy to tell the astonishing tale of how she can now produce fifteen to twenty 110-pound bags of sesame on the same plot that previously struggled to yield three bags. As she puts it, “My life has drastically improved.”
Not long ago, those three bags of seed were all she could get out of her two-acre farm during persistent droughts. It was hard to keep her family going under such conditions. In 2020, she joined a farmers club through the program and gained experience in teamwork, climate-smart farming techniques and marketing skills to negotiate better prices.
Patricia says, “I’ve acquired new agricultural skills in the wake of climate-change shocks, and am actually getting bumper yields now.” She earned enough selling her sesame during the ‘23-’24 sales season to complete the house project which had been stalled for years due to lack of money. She used part of her proceeds to buy chickens and goats to supplement her income.
“Owning a house and livestock has been my dream for years! I am so grateful to this program because I’ve achieved so much in such a short time. I feel my future is more certain.”
The program team describes Patricia as one of the happiest and one of the better-off smallholder farmers they’ve seen, a satisfying result for a farmer who’d certainly seen her share of hard times.
Malawi Blantyre Program
Led by Catholic Relief Services