Ball aiming to raise another £50k for Africa

WITH more than £80,000 already raised for FARM-Africa at previous events, the organisers of the third Highlands and Pridelands Ball, which will be held on 5 February at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, have set a target of adding another £50,000 to that total.

FARM-Africa assists small scale farmers and pastoralists in Eastern Africa. With the money previously raised, one Afar pastoralist community in Ethiopia has been able to clear the land of invasive prosopis plants so livestock can graze more freely.

The crushed prosopis pods make excellent animal feed and FARM-Africa provided the community with a machine to speed up this process. Now, not only can pastoralist families keep their livestock well fed, the surplus crushed pods can also be sold to provide a good profit.

The cleared land is now also being used to grow food and cash crops.

Through simple but effective solutions, FARM-Africa has helped this community develop two new streams of income in a harsh living environment, meaning there is no longer an over-reliance on livestock.

In Tanzania FARM-Africa's emphasis on creating alternative livelihoods has seen a community provided with beekeeping equipment, leading them to turn small scale honey production into a successful business. Plans are now under way to build a honey processing factory to encourage bulk sales.

The event next month will feature well known broadcaster and patron of FARM-Africa, Kate Adie, as the after-dinner speaker. A few tables are still available. For details please contact cullisse_robert @hotmail.com