We often are asked if we know where the food we eat comes from; but rarely do we ever inquire into the experiences of these farmers, like Daw (pictured above). Daw lives in a village in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar and grows Guava in her family farm. She has been a proud Guava farmer for over 20 years, and it has been her main source of income. Growing Guava is quite advantageous, as they are a hardier crop, well suited to many soil types, and well suited to the warm and wet climate of the Ayeyarwady.

As we walk around her guava field, she shows us her guava trees, burdened by ripening guavas, now only weeks away from harvest. In the 20 years she has been growing, she hasn’t been able to see a significant growth in her profits or a growth in her savings. Three years ago, she heard about one of our village savings banks and decided to join up. Daw participated in workshops on saving, bookkeeping and interest rate management, becoming a regular in the meetings that Cufa Myanmar delivered. Working with her village savings bank, Daw took out loans to help grow her farm, buying new equipment to increase production. After paying back her loan, she quickly saw a return on investment. 

Due to the pandemic, farming has become tougher. Laws designed to reduce the spread of Covid-19 by limiting social interactions have resulted in village markets, previously bustling with local buyers and wholesalers, unable to operate daily. Daw, unable to rely on her traditional income source, and needing to still support a family of six, turned to her village savings bank. Thanks to the savings she had accumulated and a loan from her village savings bank, she has been able to weather the worst of the pandemic. Daw’s experience of the Covid-19 pandemic has encouraged some of her neighbors to join the village savings bank as well.