Provide 18 farmers with irrigation for life

Progress over the summer months has been slow due to the monsoon. The monsoon makes many of the roads impassable. Since the monsoon abated (September), the project is now gearing up again. We continue to train the project field workers in explaining to the beneficiaires that the funds must be repaid once their incomes have risen enough. This is the biggest hurdle in this project. It is very acheivable but takes time. Part of this involves working with the beneficiaires to see how much they can pay back. Whilst this is set at the outset of the project, we do continue to review it if its not right. This is really important as the aim of the project is to lift the farmers out of poverty so the amount the farmers pay back must be achievable and this can vary across our projects. There have had to be some small price adjustments as some of the parts of the irrigation system have increased in price due to rising raw material prices. However, this has been absorbed within the overall project cost. We anticipate distributing the irrigiation systems in December/ January. In other projects with drip and sprinkler system, we continue to see very encouraging results. We often see a doubling in farmers income as a result of these systems. In December, more detailed information will be sent when the 'action' part of the project is in full swing. The photo attached shows how the sprinkler systems have other benefits - in the very hot summer months, the kids love playing under the sprinklers!