Witness and her husband Dameseki are two of the multiplication farmers we are working with the ensure we have quality vines to provide to local families to grow improved varieties of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. They live in an area that has great soil and access to water and when we visited their farm in November 2023, Witness shared how the project has positively impacted their lives.
She said, “This is our second year producing vines. We are growing many more vines this year as we saw how beneficial it was the community and also to our family. We earnt a good income from producing the vines which meant we could buy fertiliser, blankets and additional food items. We also had the money to pay the School Development Fund for our four children at primary school and we could save some money too.”
As we walked through her farm she talked about her hopes for next year. She continued to explain, “I hope that we will grow a good crop so that we can sell the vines again. We want to do some home improvements.”
Witness took us to her home. Outside her husband and other family members were busy preparing cassava that had been harvested. Taking us inside her home which consisted of four rooms, Witness said, “I would like to buy a bed and mattress for my children to sleep on. We would also like to buy a sofa and some new chairs, maybe a television.”
It was clear that her children were excited by the idea of these improvements, and it was even more clear that Witness and her husband were proud that they could even dream of actually buying such items. Witness continued, “I am lucky. I will be able to buy school uniforms when my children need them. This (project) has changed our future.”
Between all of the multiplication farmers we work with, they have to produce more than one million sweet potato vines for the project. It’s busy work but as you can see, has a real positive impact for all involved.
Her neighbour, and another of the multiplication farmers, Dawira, has even bigger ambitions for his village. We will share his story soon too but through our Agricultural projects we really are Growing the Future in more ways than one. Learn more here.
