Woman Led Self-Reliance Family

I would like to share something with you about an ethnic Lahu family in Southern Shan State, Myanmar. This is a women-led family and they are relying on their own farm for their family foods and income generation. She is Daw Thida Aung with 52 years old and her husband is a religious leader. The family consists of four family members with her husband, a daughter and son.

She started integrated farming in her family land and kitchen garden since 2003. There are so many crops in her farm land and home kitchen garden such as rice, peanut, corn, soybean, sesame, chili and different kinds of vegetables and also small-scale livestock such as native chickens, cows, oxen, pig and fishes. So, she can get the healthy foods and other herbals things from her farm and home gardens. Moreover, they can also use the extra products for sharing to her neighbors and selling to get family income.

As she is relying on local seeds, organic fertilizers and indigenous knowledge, her family is very capable to do agriculture even chemical fertilizers and hybrid seeds are getting expensive in the markets. She is now leading not only in her family but also in her village by conserving biodiversity and environment. Her family is becoming an idol family among the other neighboring communities. Many families are trying to follow her ways and lifestyle to become a self-reliance family in future.