COSDEP’s solution is the training small-scale tea farmers to start composting and kitchen gardening for a more, diverse, safe and healthy food production. For communities this means a sustainable solution for food security, income and the environment.

Find the first promising fundings up to December 2021:

Outcomes (community impact)

Longer-term, we expect that the farmers can market their vegetables locally and earn an income. That is how the entire community benefits from the increased food security as there will be healthier and more affordable food that will be made available through kitchen gardens. In turn, this will contribute to better well-being and reduced poverty levels among community members.

Results we already see are:

• On average 830 family members (will) benefit from more food and healthier food on the table.
• Some farmers are now able make a small income from selling of vegetables to their surrounding neighbours. In future, more farmers will be able to do that, as being in a group and meeting regularly in their demonstration farms enables the farmers to share and learn even about the available markets locally and even outside their zones. 
• The farmers also engage family and neighbours to the demonstration sites to come and learn. By December already 320 small-scale farmers were reached indirectly. 

Outcomes (lives improved)

We expected 150 small-scale tea farmers and their families will improve their well-being by producing their own foods and thus saving money or earning money when they have a surplus to sell at the local market. The saved and earned extra money will further improve their lives by for example, expanding food production or taking their children to school.

From the first results we indeed see that:

• The farmers now have fresh supply of vegetables from the kitchen gardens. And they diversify to have different vegetable varieties that offer nutrition value, like indigenous vegetables, kales, spinach and cabbage. One recipient specifically reported to have improved her health due to consumption of organically grown food in her kitchen garden. Remarkably, in the group discussions we heard about reduced instances of hospital visits due to food contamination!
• The project has helped the trainees to save on the costs of purchasing fertilisers which is very expensive. They are using locally available materials to make compost manure, biofertilizers and bio pesticides. 
• In addition, we can already see that from the first groups trained, that farmers now don’t need to buy vegetables and that’s a benefit as they are able to reduce on the costs of their daily expenses.

In addition, the training specifically resulted in:

• Each farmer group started a demonstration farm that has a compost site and a kitchen garden and it’s also the place where the group members meet and work on the farm together and share about their farming experiences and how they can grow together.
• Around 70% of the first 4 groups have already replicated the techniques on their own farm, like the multi-story gardens that are easier to manage and beautiful to look at. We expect the percentage to grow with the farmers who missed our sessions, due to personal circumstances. We don’t expect all farmers to adopt the new technologies, because a few lacked the commitment for it. 
• The farmers make use of new technologies for them; the biofertilizers are an alternative to help the farmers to shift from chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

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