Karen Hilltribes Trust Improving Livelihoods and Banishing Hunger

Ban Huay Pong is a village of 162 people that has struggled with food security for many years. Much of their farmland has been unusable during the rainy season, meaning farmers miss out on vital land to grow food and improve their livelihoods.

We spoke to Mr Supho who has lived in the village his whole life:

“When I was young, we grew highland rice as we didn’t have paddies. Now we plant rice in paddies but our irrigation isn’t good or strong. When the rainy season brings  flooding the irrigation dam always must get it repaired. We don’t have enough rice. I graduated from high school and got married when I was 20 years old, and I have 2 children.” 

When asked about and needs or issues he and other villagers have he told us that they don’t have enough food year round due to the irrigation issues and also not having sufficient water for farming. Without enough rainfall and then flooding in other months, it is difficult for us to farm all through the year.

When asked how the KHT irrigation project has improved his life Mr Suphot said:

“After the project, our life is better. We can get more crops because we have a strong irrigation. That make us can plant in the summer and get more income. Also have enough food for our family… Our community has a better life. We have time to do other things like spending time with family and friends. We grow more crops and get more income and also have a better well-being. The forest trees increase because we don’t cut down the trees to make nature much better.” 

Our life is better, we have more income. We can grow rice and vegetables to support our children to continue to university for a better life than us. Thank you for supporting us, all the supporters and the KHT team.”

We are always so proud to hear such positive stories from villagers we have supported, if you would like to support our projects please donate today!

The post Improving Livelihoods and Banishing Hunger appeared first on Karen Hilltribes Trust.