"Emily harvests enough to feed her whole family all year round and even has some left over to sell – an amazing feat for a single woman supporting a family of nine."
Just a few years ago, Malawi was in the grips of a devastating food crisis. A cycle of drought, bad harvests and spiralling costs of maize meant millions of people were struggling to find a way to survive.
Amidst all this was Emily Baziwell, who was making her way to a village in the Ntcheu Distrist to look after her widowed mother and three younger siblings. This would be hard going, as she had four young children of her own.
Determined to save the people she loved, she started farming on a small plot. In her first year, Emily managed to harvest 50 kilograms of shelled maize and a little less than one bag of beans. It was a great effort, but not enough to feed two adults and seven children. “I was hungry and hopeless considering the size of my family,” she says.
Thankfully, she then found out about a USAID support programme where she was shown simple, new irrigation techniques and, along with 40 other farmers, was given 1.2 acres on which to grow her crops.
Now Emily harvests enough to feed her whole family all year round and even has some left over to sell – an amazing feat for a single woman supporting a family of nine. She’s also in the process of showing other people in her village what she learned – so that hopefully, in a little bit of time, with a little bit more knowledge, the whole community will see massive change.
Provided by United States Agency for International Development
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