Rural Assistance Program Prey Veng (RAP), Cambodia

GlobalGiving 50% Donor Match Day July 12 can help our Moringa Project !

As we recently  reported,the  initial group  for the Moringa Project  was 50 farmers , included including  18 women farmers, most of whom are the primary support for their family. Their average  is 44. These photos will introduce you  to some of our farmers. As you can see, moringa farming is hard work beginning with germinating seedlings for transplant into hardpacked soil in barren fields.

The newly transplanted moringa plants  will require at least 3 months to mature from planting of the seeds to first harvest opportunity. Once matured, the moringa plants can begin to provide our farmers with a regular monthly income as the leaves can  harvested about every 30 days.

As you look at these photos, imagine what a rising  monthly income can do to improve the lives of these subsistence farmers. Moringa planting represents a rare opportunity for sustainable income in a remote area with few other economic opportunities  and  it represents a real economic game changer for our  farming families.

Key to the success of this program is not only the  education and technical support provided by  our team but also the  access to water that a well can provide. Most of our current moringa farmers have wells but we have another 10 farmers who would like to join our program but cannot afford to drill a well.

Last year, as we began the project,  we committed to drill 10 new wells at about $ 280 per well. Your donations for well drilling, during the GlobalGiving 50% match day could  “reduce” your donor cost to about  $195 with a donor match from GlobalGiving . So far, we have raised money for 5 of the 10 wells, which means we have 5 farmers who would like to join our program but cannot join  unless they have  access to water.

As the news of success of our program grows, we anticipate that we will have other farming families who want to join. The GlobalGiving 50% Donor Match Day will help to supercharge donations,  so we encourage you to  participate in this great opportunity and tell your friends how they can really make a difference in the lives of these farming families by providing reliable and sustainable monthly income. 

This program is off to a great start and we hope to continue and expand upon its initial success

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Barbara & Mark Rosasco