Training students at the URDT Girls’ School and its Community schools.

The schools have developed a home development to generate sustainable income at the students’ homes.
Students are trained in Farm Enterprise Management. In particular they learn:

• Mind-set change: moving from subsistence farming to farming as business to ultimately commercial farming;
• Systems thinking: understanding the relationship between food security, health and sustainable income;
• Value chain management, including the importance of seed selection, land preparation, timely weeding, soil and pest management, post-harvest management, marketing and value addition;
• Family cooperation and community organizing as key ingredients for sustainable rural livelihood development;
• Practical skills in sustainable agricultural practices;
• Practical skills in growing all types of cash crop; tree farming and agro forestry, poultry keeping, bee keeping, piggery; food processing and construction of storage facilities (see picture).

Each class has a garden. By the time the students finish Senior 4:

• They are familiar with all the major farm practices
• Their homes have sufficient income to cater for basic needs, good health and education of siblings.
• Students transfer their newly gained knowledge through training parents in workshops organised by the school and back home projects during the school holidays