New Ways to Grow : Improving Food Security in South Chin, Myanmar
Southern Chin State is one of the most neglected and impoverished regions in Myanmar. The project area is mountainous, remote and poorly connected to the rest of the country. The inhabitants of this area - the Mara community - experience chronic food insecurity, mainly due to climate change, slash and burn rotational farming, lack of skills, equipment and knowledge on sustainable farming and nutritious food preparation, and lack of market opportunities. To address this situation the intervention aims to improve food security and nutrition in Southern Chin State as a means to combat poverty. Supported by Mission East, two highly committed local NGOs: HHM and TSD will build their capacity to instigate a shift to a sustainable agricultural methodology called Something to Eat Every Day (SEED), cooperating with and training Family Farmer Groups and Women’s Self Help Groups to apply this new approach.
Development Objective:
Remote rural communities in Chin state have improved food security and nutrition
Specific Objectives: By the end of the project -
1) 130 families in 4 villages of the Mara community have access to sufficient and nutritious food year round
2) Staff of partner organisations, leaders of family farmer groups (FFG) and women self- help groups are employing new knowledge/ skills on sustainable food production.
3) Communities, Village Administrative Committee members and Church Local Standing Committee members are promoting sustainable approaches to natural resource management.
The overall project strategy is to introduce the community to sustainable agricultural methods that will improve their food security in the short and long term, with particular consideration to the nutritional aspect of the production and preparation of food. To achieve its objectives the project has three interconnected components: i) increase in capacity of a selected group of farmers in the new methodology from a very practical perspective using pilot farms, intensive training and agricultural inputs (seeds etc); ii) building the capacity of the local partners, the leaders of the family farmers groups and women in the self-help groups as lead agents of change in the community through their application of the new knowledge on sustainable food production and iii) advocacy towards communities and influential local leading organisations to engage them in the promotion of sustainable approaches to natural resource management.
Project details
21.6007719, 93.4447863
Myanmar
