Women Cassava Processors in Akinyele Village Nigeria spend 14 hours a day in Cassava processing factory and earn less than $1. All processing are done manually and for less. Their children drop out of school to also work in the factory. With your donation, we will procure automated equipment. They will produce more cassava chain products in less time. Their children will stay longer hours in school. The women will earn more income and gain financial independence. They're counting on you.
The Akinyele community is an agrarian community with few people who are into petty trading. The community has suffered rural/urban migration as many of the youth population have moved to urban areas. Majority of women are gatherers, harvesters, food processors without the power to own land. The target participants are female household heads who are into planting, and processing of cassava. They do most of the tasks manually, thus their productivity and output is very low.
A Cassava peeler will peel a ton of cassava in one hour, whereas 8 women will spent about 15 hours peeling. After peeling they wash and grate in an old machine, then 1st seaving is done manually for 10 hours. There is a lot of product escaping this machine; with the improved machine, grating is done without wastage and the same machine. There is a lot of hours saved with the new equipment, they will produce more, they will earn more money and they will have extra time for their families.
The entire community will benefit from the ripple positive effect this project will bring. The children, who also come to peel cassava and spend long hours fetching water from the well will save this time for their school work. Other members of the community will fetch water from the factory (especially women and children). Other processors would come and process their cassava for a fee. The children of the women (household) heads will be able to complete schooling because they will earn more.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
