Monia Mataka is a 66 year old widow, living in Western Province, Zambia, one of southern Africa’s poorest regions.
Like most people, she relies on farming for their survival.
Over the years Monia Mataka has struggled to make ends meet on her two acres plot. The soil is poor, the climate harsh, and the environment, on the fringes of the Kalihari Desert, make if difficult to earn a living.
But the biggest challenge Monia faced was getting access to both good quality seed, and access to markets to sell her produce - and that obstacle was recently removed, thanks to the efforts of the Self Help Africa backed MORE (Market Oriented Rural Enterprise) undertaken in Western Province.
Like many others in Mulyata village, Monia bought groundnut (peanut) seed from a farmers co-operative that was established with support from Self Help Africa, and last year harvested five 50kg of nuts from her land.
‘I was paid 40,000 Zambian Kwacha for each of them – far more than I make from growing maize on the same plot’, she says.
It isn’t her only source of income, but for a partially disabled widow who lives alone, the groundnut harvest provided her with far more than she made previously from maize farming.
‘I stood in line with dozens of other small farmers and bought seed from Kamasika Seed Growers Co-Op', she says. 'I'm not rich, but I'm doing okay', she says.
Monia Mataka inherited four acres of land when her husband died. She says that she was able to buy the seed because she had land to grow it on, and is looking forward to producing more in the future.
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