Rosemary is a member of NASFAM, a farmers’ cooperative in Malawi that is offering a route out of poverty to its 100,000 members with the support of Irish Aid.

In the nine years since she joined NASFAM, Rosemary has seen a substantial increase in her family’s economic standing. “I have nine children ranging from 35 years to 18. There’s no doubt that my younger ones had a better upbringing than the older ones because of our improved standard of living. We have more food on our plates and more money to spend on their education. My youngest is now finishing secondary school.”

By banding together, NASFAM farmers are achieving better prices for their produce and benefiting from training and technical support which is helping them to increase crop quality and get higher yields. In 2008, Irish Aid provided NASFAM with €150,000 and supported the Malawian Government to distribute to seeds and fertilizer to over 1.5 million poor farmers.
Irish Aid supports development efforts on a national level in nine partner countries: Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.

Mary Banda's son Tamanda with soya bean

With Irish Aid's support:

Primary school enrolment rates in Zambia have increased from 68% in 2000 to 94% in 2005;

The number of people in Mozambique on anti-retroviral treatment, the life-saving medication for people living with HIV and AIDS, was 86,000 by the end of 2007, up from 8,000 in 2004;

300,000 more people in Lesotho can access safe drinking water.

If you’d like to find out more call into the Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.

Photo by Daniel Rowan