The Rural Voice, 1987-12, Page 20the blind in one to two-week courses
in mobility (walking alone with a
cane), in weeding and planting using
the sense of touch, and in gardening.
They also make regular visits by
bicycle to the fanners.
Each year we recruited about 100
blind farmers who would be assisted
over a three-year period. Neighbours
were grouped into co-operatives of 10
to 15 families, and each group chose a
leader to look after the team of oxen
and nine -inch plow received on credit
from our centre. Each extension agent
supervises about five co-operative
groups, making sure that the oxen are
used to the maximum when the rains
begin. Crops are then planted by the
blind and their families directly on the
plowed land and, wherever possible,
in 30 -inch rows to facilitate weeding
done by hand — or by the oxen if they
are well-trained.
After the farmers return home and
the rains begin, they put into practice
what they have learned. Through the
growing season, the extension agent
makes regular visits to the new farm-
ers to give advice if needed and, more
importantly, to give encouragement.
After harvest, each co-operative
collects payment in kind from each
member (50 kilograms of grain or 25
kilograms of peanuts). The centre
receives the grain and credits each co-
operative's account the market value
of its contribution. After about four
years, each group has paid for its oxen
and plow and has enough left over to
replace an ox or plow parts. About a
third of the contributions are kept by
the centre for seed for the next year's
new co-operatives.
The oxen must be vaccinated three
times a year for anthrax, rinderpest,
and sleeping sickness, the cost of
Children who are victims of polio on specially designed bicycles.
Every March, about 25 young
bulls are purchased and trained at the
centre for three weeks by extension
agents and the sons of blind farmers.
Each pair of oxen is assigned to a co-
operative. The women in each group
get a donkey and a six-inch plow to
work their peanut fields (peanuts are
traditionally a "woman's crop").
Simultaneously, there are courses
for the blind farmers on caring for the
oxen, preparing the soil, and planting
row crops using a long string with
knots every six to eight inches, which
by touch tells the blind farmer where
to plant the seed.
which is paid from the co-operative's
accounts. Each year a few oxen must
be replaced because of laziness, death
by snake bite, or theft.
Another program of individual
assistance is in raising sheep and
poultry. Of the 100 new farmers in
the program each year, about 25 of the
poorest are given four ewes on a loan
basis. These ewes are cared for by the
farmers' children and each year one or
two female lambs are reimbursed to be
distributed to other new members.
The women are each given six hens,
which are repaid over two years.
During the dry season, a gardening
18 THE RURAL VOICE
program keeps the staff and about 30
new farmers busy. Again the farmers
are grouped (four to six to a garden).
They dig two shallow wells for irri-
gation and weave sorghum stalks
together to make a fence to keep out
livestock. The extension agents offer
training in preparing seed beds, in
transplanting using a knotted string,
and in watering the beds using the
sense of touch. Tomatoes and cab-
bage are grown for home use and
onions as a cash crop. the onions are
harvested in February and stored in
simple mud -brick sheds with shelves
of poles and mats until July or August,
when market prices are three to five
times higher than at harvest time.
Other development workers assist
the young people paralyzed from the
waist down by polio. Groups of six
are recruited for a one-year course at
the centre to learn how to weave
cotton cloth, which is sold in village
markets. The cloth is woven on
simple looms they can operate with
their hands. When they complete their
course, they receive enough thread to
make a complete dress, which when
sold provides a profit of 50 per cent.
They also buy a three -wheel hand -
driven cycle at a subsidized price
payable over two years.
With minimal health services
available and because of a high child
mortality caused by disease and mal-
nutrition, a primary health-care pro-
gram was started in 1986 with the
blind mothers. Courses for these
mothers include nutrition, food prep-
aration, hygiene, family planning, and
child-care. The instructor who works
with the mothers is female, because
the mothers are very reserved about
talking openly with the extension
agents.
In the past few years, there has
not been a dramatic improvement in
the standard of living of the blind
farmers and their families, but they
are now definitely self-sufficient in
food production. Their enthusiasm
and grateful response to the assistance
they received makes one feel that the
funds were well spent and the work
rewarding.0