Twelve women. Two-thirds of an acre. New income and better nutrition!

Twelve women in Eonfetnai hamlet of Enonaubuasa village in West Timor, Indonesia, recently got together to form a farmers’ group. Their goal was to be more self-reliant and create a new source of income and nutrition for their families.

Through the CWS Timor Zero Hunger program and with support for their district Department of Agriculture, the woman formed the Tunas Muda women farmer’s group.

“What motivated us to establish this group was a desire to be more self-reliant, particularly … for vegetable gardening. This not only helps us meet our families’ food needs, it also helps us increase our income when we sell vegetables in the market,” explains Antonia Liunokas, Tunas Muda’s treasurer.

With motivation and new knowledge from being part of Timor Zero Hunger, Tunas Muda members grow a variety of vegetables – morning glory, shallots, spinach, tomatoes, and chili – in a garden that covers about two-thirds of an acre.

“We are grateful for the information, new knowledge, mentoring and guidance from CWS staff and our agriculture extension workers. [We learned] not just about vegetable-growing, but also group management and how to handle our finances,” says Ketura Selan, Tunas Muda’s secretary. “Group members make between $5 and $8 in profit each harvest. We use $2 to buy new seeds and the rest we use to buy rice, salt and cooking oil,” she added. “For the future we will cultivate even more land with corn, beans and nuts. We also are planning a savings group.”