Our work
Sponsored by the Foundation in partnership with GRET’s Find fund, the program aimed to help farmers become self-reliant by seizing market opportunities in horticulture due to growing demand in nearby urban markets, improving water management and implementing agro-ecology best practices. The program first identified and tested small-scale methods requiring limited external inputs and investments, such as water storage, foot pumps, solar pumps, drip irrigation systems, compost and mulching. It went on to support the bio-intensification of vegetable production and improve market access. The program sought community empowerment and capacity-building through the provision of training, active participation of smallholders in needs assessment, experimentation design, testing, monitoring and evaluation of innovations, and by encouraging best practice sharing with other famers.
Key Impacts
Throughout the project, farmers tested and applied innovative techniques related to irrigation and agro-ecology, including the use of solid compost and bio-pesticides to replace chemical fertilizers, resulting in a decrease in production costs of up to 70%, as well as reduced soil pollution. The combination of micro-irrigation systems and agro-ecological techniques also allowed for year-round production and significant productivity gains in time and labor. A famer can now save up to 70% of time and 50% of labor required to irrigate vegetables using drips and spray tubes. Higher productivity also allowed farmers to increase cultivated areas, thus generating additional revenues.
About our partner
Find is the endowment fund set up by GRET (Professionals for Fair Development), a French NGO. It gives companies and other private players the opportunity to support innovative programs for development implemented by GRET, which contribute to the fight against poverty and inequality.
Project duration
2014-2017
Drip irrigation really brings me additional profits, so my community should also use it. I am happy to share my successful experience with other farmers. They can use it as I do. They are interested in what they see, so they can learn how to replicate it.
Daw Wai Wai Tha Byu Kone village, Myanmar
