Creating a New Future
Now, Besagi and Bamda have hope for the future despite the ongoing challenges facing the Malto people
Besagi and Bamda needed a miracle.
Besagi and her husband Bamda look out across their flourishing crops of maize and pigeon pea. The lush, green crops are growing stronger by the day despite the baking hot sun. Her three children laugh as they run off to school. They have plenty of nutritious food to eat, and the children are excelling in their studies. The family is thriving.
But things weren’t always this way.
Besagi and Bamda struggled to provide for their family. They are a part of the Malto people, an ethnic minority in India that often lacks access to education and financial resources.
For years Besagi and her husband used traditional farming methods on their tiny plot of land. The family would spend a small fortune on seeds and chemical fertilizer, but most of the seeds wouldn’t grow because their nutrient-rich soil was slowly eroding.
As their family grew, Besagi and Bamda were desperate for a solution. Their needs were growing, but their crops and income were shrinking with each passing harvest season.
Everything began to change for the family when Besagi heard about an innovative farming workshop being held by one of Tearfund’s local church partners, EFICOR. The results of the workshops have been incredible, with many families doubling, sometimes tripling the amount of food they can grow. Many Malto families have been able to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
When Besagi started attending EFICOR’s workshops, she learned many new agricultural techniques, including how to keep the soil covered with mulch and regular crop rotations. She also learned the importance of intercropping, or growing crops together in their small plot of land.
The results of EFICOR’s workshop have been life-changing. Besagi and Bamda were able to grow 180kg of maize and 125kg of pigeon pea in 2020 alone. They’ve never seen crop yields like this before!
With such impressive crop yields, they are no longer going hungry and have enough money to send their children to school.
The family has hope for the future despite the ongoing challenges facing the Malto people. They are breaking the generational cycle of extreme poverty that their people have faced for decades, thanks to supporters like you.
