Peanut Farming – Empowering Female Led Families

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage livelihoods here in Sri Lanka and around the world, economic opportunities are increasingly hard to come by. Many rural Sri Lankans, who are mostly daily wage earners, are struggling to find ends meet. 

Against such a backdrop, Dr Kushwin Rajamani from Australia, whose generosity extends to beneficiaries in need all across Sri Lanka in partnership with the Foundation of Goodness, has now initiated a new project to provide war widowed women with a means of income by enhancing peanut production through improving processing practices for better yields.

These 20 war widowed women are from the Ampara District, in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. They had previously worked as labourers on peanut farms. Peanuts are not only a sustainable and nutritious crop, but they can be highly profitable in the Eastern Province and beyond. Under this initiative, they will receive a provision of farming tools, land and grains along with educational intervention designed to facilitate and empower these women responsible for growing the peanuts.

Last month, they were provided with special equipment including an Agro Pipe and 3 water pumps, to ensure a bountiful peanut crop. Yesterday, during the auspicious time, the peanut farming began! They managed to plant 50 KG worth of peanuts on one acre of land, under the guidance of the coordinator of our Ampara Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre.

We now wait eagerly for a bountiful peanut harvest!