The objective of this grant is to reduce food insecurity by establishing a community vegetable garden for a local woman’s group, and addressing a community need for locally grown vegetables. In a group brainstorming session, group members expressed that they have long desired a local source of nutritious vegetables. Currently, the primary source of vegetables is the weekly market in a town 3.5 miles away.
This grant will help establish a 1-hectare vegetable garden for the women's group, which is comprised of 110 women. The garden will be equipped with a well, a solar pump, and a shed of tools that community members can use to grow their own vegetables. The garden will also serve as an example of sustainable agriculture techniques, increasing the capacity of local gardeners through trainings and demonstrations. The project site will host trainings for community members, with a focus on soil fertility, integrated pest management, promoting techniques such as double-digging, agroforestry, or micro gardening for those with less space.
The sustainable agriculture techniques that will be taught will also emphasize water preservation in the face of increasingly unpredictable rainfall due to climate change. After grant completion, the garden will be managed by members of the women's group and will continue to produce a wide variety of vegetables for years to come.