THE SUCCESS STORY OF DEREJE TADESSE.

FROM RADIO REPAIRMAN TO WATER PUMP OWNER:  

Dereje Tadesse grows crops and raises animals near Sirti town. Since he joined SUNARMA in 2006, he has become one of the most successful beneficiaries of SUNARMA’s extension programme in Wuchale Jidda. His neighbors and relatives were discouraging Dereje by telling him that he was wasting his time. But today his success has already drawn the attention of many local community members, and they are forming their own groups and seeking recognition and training from SUNARMA. 

 

 

FROM RADIO MECHANIC TO FARMER

Dereje Tadesse was born to a large family in a village near Sirti town. Referring to his family size, Dereje said smiling broadly, “We were like a small clan.” During boyhood and young age, he spent herding his family's small cattle herd. He did not go to school. His poor family could not afford stationery or a school uniform.  However, Dereje’s talent enabled him to learn technical skills from his good friend. He started to fix broken radios for the local community, charging small amount of money. He relieved his poor family’s financial burden.

Like many young people of his village, Dereje (30) got a few assets when he was married to Shure Birhanu (28) six years before—only a couple of oxen. In 2006, Dereje was selected to attend various trainings on livestock management and vegetable growing by SUNARMA. He joined a SUNARMA group called Lelisa (means prosperous) where he is the chairman now.

 

Using the skills he got from the SUNARMA trainings, he started growing various vegetable crops on his plot of land. Presently Dereje has two hectares of land where he is using one hectare for grazing, and the rest for growing crops and vegetables. He rented half a hectare of grazing land and a farm plot for amount equivalent to £ 75.00 (Birr 1200).

Today sales from vegetables are the main source of income for Dereje and his family. Dereje grows onion, garlic, beetroot, cabbages, potatoes and Swiss chard. He was the first person to grow and sell potatoes in the community. In 2008, he grew these vegetables on 0.75 hectare of land. After returning the vegetable seeds to his group, Dereje sold Swiss chard for Birr 4000(£250), garlic Birr 1000(£63), potato Birr 600(£38) and other vegetables (cabbage, beetroot, onion and carrot) 300(£19). He satisfied his family’s vegetable need and sold the rest amount to the market in Sirti town and even to suppliers transporting to Addis Ababa.

Dereje learned how to control pests off his vegetable plot from SUNARMA field workers. “Red ants are a big problem here,” says Dereje, “They eat potato and carrot, but I control them so easily. I just bury fresh animal bone near their site. They get on the bone, and I burn them and remove the attacked potatoes and carrots.”  

 

REWARDED DILIGENCE

Seeing his diligence, his SUNARMA group Lelisa awarded him a heifer on pass on system in 2007. His cow calved last August, and currently the cow produces 12 litres of milk a day. Dereje sells 10 litres to the nearby market and a small café in Sirti town and uses the rest amount for his household consumption. He earns 50(£3) Birr a day. Of the total amount of 1430 litres, he sold 1056 litres of milk and used 124 litres to extract butter and cheese, earned a total amount of Birr 5533.00 (£346.00).

Dereje learned that he can produce vegetables twice a year if he can get a water pump. He talked to three other members of his group and proposed to buy a water pump. They agreed. From the sale of milk and vegetables, he contributed Birr 1500 (£94). He also bought a plot of land in Sirti town for Birr 3000.00 (£188.00) to construct a new house. And his asset grew to 4 oxen, 1 cow, 1 donkey and 10 sheep.

Now Dereje is growing various vegetables—potato (2 sacks), garlic (half sack), carrot (100 gm) and Swiss chard (100 gm) on 0.4 hectare plot of land by irrigation. He will harvest his vegetable by March and April, when vegetable demand rises due to Ethiopian Orthodox Christian fasting period. During these months, Orthodox Christians eat non-animal products. “I will be able to sell for Birr 10,000 (£ 625.00),” Dereje said.

 

Update Feb 2010:

Dereje Tadesse, a project beneficiary from Wuchale Jida has passed on an improved variety of young heifer to his group member early this week in attendance of his group members and Sunarma project staff. The milk cow that was given to Dereje in January 2008 on a ‘pass on the gift principle’ calved a young heifer in August 2008. According to the group by-laws, the first calf would be passed on to another group member after one year. To this end, Dereje passed on a 1.6-year-old heifer.

The person who was given the cow was unanimously selected by the group member based on need, livestock management skill and resource-capacity to feed the heifer properly. On the occasion, Dereje said, “I am happy to get the first calf to my group member. And I am so glad to see the pass on system is working well. What makes things even more exciting for me is that my Sunarma cow has calved the second time last week. It is beyond words to tell you how much this cow has changed the life of my family. Thank you Sunarma.”

Sunarma distributed 21 crossbred heifers to the project beneficiaries in 2008. Sixteen of these have calved. But Dereje’s cow was the first to calf and Dereje is the first to pass on!

 

 

WORDS FROM TAMIRU LEGESSE