Empowering Women through Animal Husbandry: Yields in Ilalasimba Village in Tanzania Improve by over 400% through Forest Landscape Restoration
In Ilalasimba village, located in Tanzania’s Iringa Region, women primarily engage in agricultural activities. A recent visit by the project team to the village working with The Restoration Initiative highlighted the story of Amina Mtuya, a 54-year-old housewife and livestock farmer. Read her story below.
“For many years, I have been living on subsistence farming. Because of low yields, I highly depended on forest resources for collecting firewood for household use and selling. We have used a small number of cattle to graze freely in the forest reserve. We noticed the trend of a declining landscape but cared more about our own wellbeing and our livestock. As a farmer, I have been faced with many challenges – inadequate rains, poor farming practices, deteriorating soils and pests and diseases. All these resulted in very low yields. Our cattle did not increase in numbers as anticipated due to limited access to nutritious fodder and inadequate extension services. I could hardly get a litre of milk per cow per day. The combined income from crop and milk sales couldn’t help meet family needs.” Said Amina.
A community meeting about environmental protection and sustainable livelihood practices introduced Amina to TRI.
Amina added, “I heard about the TRI at a community meeting organised to sensitise villagers on environmental protection and sustainable livelihood practices. The Community Development Officer called for community participation in this project to help address land degradation and improve our livelihood. I was glad to learn that the project will support environmentally friendly income-generating activities to reduce dependence on natural resources.… Read the rest