Elena worked with community members to carry out needs assessment with over 50 community group members from 2 women’s groups and two mixed-gender groups. A granary was repeatedly and independently listed as the top priority.
As already mentioned, most of the village population derives its income primarily from farming, but has no secure place to store its harvests. Farmers are forced to store their crops in their own houses or, more frequently, in straw-thatched huts in their fields.
By enabling farmers to have a higher, more reliable income, a community granary would allow local families to more easily meet other needs (such as education and nutrition for their children), and the implementation process of the project itself would hopefully empower community and group members with the skills and know-how to engage in other community projects deemed necessary by the community. Without a granary, the farmers of Ngan-Ha would continue to deal with losses of income due the necessity of selling their products before there is a good market as well as the untimely destruction of such crops.
