Another chapter of STORIES FROM ANOTHER WORLD! Today we would like to introduce Khin Myat Tun, who has been our agronomist for more than 10 years. Thanks to her, we always find out how much our projects concretely help people in rural villages in the Taunggyi area.
“I took part in New Humanity 10 years ago to spread my knowledge and help the communities in agriculture, education and water management. I conducted agricultural trainings with the help of the Department of Agriculture together with the staff of the Mitta Foundation. It was a colleague from the Mitta Foundation who introduced me to the village of Maesanow where they needed assistance because of difficulties in bringing water to the village.
Between 2016 and 2017, with New Humanity staff, we visited the village and provided sunflower seeds to two young farmers; since then the village of Maesanow has contacted New Humanity for other needs as well.
In 2020, thanks to a grant from the PIME foundation, we were able to start three water projects, including one in Maesanow village that was completed and handed over to the community in May 2021. This project covered a total of 410 families. The project was conducted along with trainings related to the WASH project, in which we discussed the importance of water, proper use of water, personal hygiene and other health related topics. The training also addressed possible problems that might arise in the future and that the water management committee needs to be able to handle. Therefore, shared rules, responsibilities and duties in all houses were agreed. The project gave support to bring water from the spring to the village. The villagers realized that the responsibility of the water system in the land on which they live, from then on, would be theirs since they are the ones who inhabit that land and use the water.
Activities and projects continued in the area and U Htut Oo, the village leader, was selected as an “example farmer” to demonstrate a different rice cultivation at high altitude. The project compared the Shew Aut type of rice with the one usually used in the village. This is a more sustainable and hardy variety of rice. We tried to teach good agricultural practices to the farmers through demonstration crops and agricultural trainings. In 2021, the Shwe Aut rice variety gave a better yield than the local variety. All participants were able to verify the higher yield through the cultivation demonstration, field visits and trainings conducted. And now other farmers in other villages would like to grow this rice variety on their lands and have begun making arrangements with Maesanow farmers independently, without the need for our intermediation. Agreeing with U Htut Oo, a farmer who grew Shwe Aut rice this year in the village nearby got 70 baskets of harvest from just one basket of grains.
I feel very happy and proud to hear that the new rice variety is being grown in other areas as well. Without the trust and active participation of the community, we could not have expanded the results of these projects from a few farmers to other groups of farmers and villages.”
We sincerely thank Khin Myat Tun for her passion and commitment that has been with us for so many years, and we thank all those who allow us to intervene in rural areas of Myanmar to help farmers and villages.
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