In the beginning of this month, April 2019, our team in Syria conducted a follow up field visit to 4 villages around Amuda (located in Hasakah governorate, Syria) to assess the outcomes of one of Mercy Hands' agricultural projects.
The project was about increasing livelihood opportunities and food security for small and medium sized farmers and vulnerable women. In September 2018, Mercy Hands team in Syria assessed 12 villages around Amuda from which Mercy Hands selected 4 villages for the implementation of the project, these are Johariya, Khareze Foqani, Khareze Tahtani, and Sunjuq Khalil. For the next 5 months, the project's team implemented the following activities in the 4 villages:
Drilled 12 water wells and installed pumps and generators in 12 farms, then provided agriculture training to the owners of these farms. After the training, the 12 farmers received an agriculture basket that was tailored and designed according to their needs and demands to help them implement the new aspects they learned during the training sessions. The basket included a generous package of a variety of seeds enough to cover their needs for two seasons and a plastic tunnel to help them in implementing the concept-protected agriculture.
Trained 100 women on horticultural farming and then provided each one of the 100 women with agricultural inputs.
Mercy Hands team in Syria went back to the 4 villages to see the impact the project has had on the beneficiaries, primarily the 12 farmers and 100 women. All 12 water wells were functioning and well maintained. The farmers said that their farms benefited from the heavy rain this year, but still the water wells and their training will definitely help them. The trained women were also doing good and they were so proud to show us how their seeds have grown into beautiful gardens and how they have applied the new horticultural farming knowledge into their gardens.
At the end of the visit, the farmers and women had the same wish to receive more training on greenhouses and agribusiness.