“I can produce vegetable seeds and my entire family can eat fresh vegetables. I can generate my own income by supplying vegetables to the market. Now, the health status of my entire family is changed.” - Temesgen
Temesgen lives with his wife and adult son in Feyine Terano, a rural agricultural community in Ethiopia. He’s been a farmer his whole life. But with deteriorating soil quality and rising seed prices, his community struggled with food insecurity. To his credit, at age 60, Temesgen had the courage to try new farming techniques he learned from FH.
Armed with improved fruit and veggie seeds provided by Canadian families, Temesgen began transforming his two hectares of land from a declining farm into a flourishing business. In addition to lucious tomatoes, Temesgen also cultivates coffee - a productive cash crop - from the seedlings he received from FH. After five years of hard work, Temesgen is thrilled with the results.
“Before I became involved with FH programs, there were no motivating factors to improve our future way of life,” Temesgen shares. “It was difficult to support and encourage each other [in the community] financially in case of an emergency or a celebration since we had financial problems. Since I joined FH programs, however, my relationships have been built more and I can support others who are the most vulnerable as well as share my experience and new knowledge in farming. I also participated in building access to clean water by contributing my labour. I feel happy for all the changes that have happened in my family.”
Give Fruit & Veggie Seeds to help another farmer like Temesgen
