With two million dollars, WeForest can buy enough seeds and material for over 110,000 people so they can plant in May, harvest in November and feed their families for at least a year. This urgent intervention will make a real difference and save 23,000 farmers' families from further cycles of poverty and starvation.
The people in Tigray in Northern Ethiopia are facing a severe crisis: a dry spell, internal conflict, the COVID pandemic and crops damaged by locust swarms mean that farmers are struggling to feed their families. Aid agencies are focusing mainly on relief aid and very little help reaches remote villages where farmers cultivate their small plots. WeForest has been active in villages east of Mekelle for four years and can see first-hand that people won't make it unless the next harvest is secured.
WeForest has estimated that an equivalent of $18 per person would be needed to sustain these communities of 110,000 people, providing the seeds and material needed to cultivate their plots of around 0.5 ha each and secure the next harvest. The $2M raised will be used to source, purchase, transport and distribute seeds and equipment across the communities.
The forest and landscape restoration approach of WeForest's work is always about creating long-term resilience: developing livelihoods to eradicate poverty. Hence, this campaign bridges the gap between the immediate food aid being provided by relief organizations and our long-term approach. We are in the best position to make a real difference and save 23,000 farmers' families - 110,000 people - from further cycles of poverty and starvation.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
