The Middle East Council of Churches Helps the Households in Tibneh to Improve Their Economic Situation by Growing Home - Gardens
You can find some photos at the end of the text.
In order to alleviate the economic burden on families and enhance their ability to access low-cost food and produce a variety of crops and foods in home gardens, a team from the Diakonia and Social Department, at the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), provided winter seeds to the most vulnerable families in Tibneh village in Dara’a Governorate – Syria.
Families received winter seed kits which included beans, cabbage, lettuce, radish, parsley, cauliflower, coriander, and onions, as well as fertilizer and tools such as shovel, rake, hoe, plastic hose, brass tap, mulch, and a plastic water tank.
Noting that 190 families, including women-headed households, in Tibneh, benefited from the seed distributions.
An agricultural engineer visited all the beneficiaries twice a month to check on the plants and provide all necessary support and advice to the farmers to ensure good production.
All beneficiaries were trained on the correct methods of farming, plant diseases, and treatment methods in addition to the best practices to increase production.
One of the women who benefited from the project said, “I used to seek help from neighbors to cultivate a few types of vegetables like peppers, parsley, coriander, zucchini, and tomatoes.
I always wanted to be able to grow more vegetables because it would save me the cost of buying them from the market. Thanks to the help of MECC, I was able to obtain a plentiful and diverse harvest, which fulfills my family's food needs. The fertilizer helped me to get a good yield, and the water tank significantly reduced our struggles with water scarcity and helped me secure water for irrigation. The necessary farming tools helped me to rely on myself in sowing seeds without assistance from anyone”.
She added, “I benefited from the visit of the agricultural engineer, who taught me how to get rid of harmful weeds that damage crops, and guided me on the method of drying some vegetable seeds to replant them in the next season”.
