“Growing Healthy Families”

Supporting rural women to develop new skills and employment opportunities

Many farmers in Assam are moving away from producing food primarily for their families and are now growing tea bushes and cash crops such as tomato, cabbage and cauliflower.

A reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and intensive cultivation practices are contributing to a loss of natural soil fertility and increased crop losses due to insect pests and disease.

Funding from Canada India Village Aid www.civaid.ca made it possible for Fertile Ground to offer information, training and opportunities to several hundred women in rural village areas.   The goal of the program was to encourage healthy, local food production and will help the participants find ways to diversify and increase family incomes.

The project targeted poor and marginalized women living in the Tinsukia district of Assam, and was carried out between 2004 and 2007.

Women’s weaving project celebrates the colours and traditions of Assam

Through the Growing Healthy Families project, members of the Muliabari Self-Help Group participated in a pilot project to develop a line of hand-woven cotton kitchen accessories.

Following a number of discussions and site visits, they decided to produce 20 prototype sets of table napkins, tea cozies, placemats and potholders, incorporating traditional Assamese colours and patterns into their work.

The group selected three members who face the greatest financial need to complete the work of weaving the fabric and sewing the items.

A thousand beatifully-woven handwoven cloth bags for organic loose-leaf tea have been produced by members of the group.  The bags, and the organic teas they contain, are being sold in a number of communities on Vancouver Island, off the west coast of Canada.   Women from other ethnic groups, including the Singpho tribe, are interested in taking up production of similar types of items which feature patterns distinct to their own community.

You can read more about these items on the small tea co-operative's blog at http://smallteacoop.blogspot.com or contact smallteacoop (at ) yahoo.ca