Amina Shabani 45 years old is a mother of 6 children, among them 4 are male and 2 are female. She lives in Mwanzo Mgumu village in Morogoro. Amina had no chance of going to school, so she cannot read or write. Her husband died 5 years ago and she started taking care of the family of 5 children by herself as one of her children got married.

Amina started farming when she got married in the 90s and they were producing maize, rice and sesame. With her husband they used to produce maize and rice for food only but when they had excess they sold for income generation. For now, after receiving trainings from SAT she grows crops like maize, rice, cassava, Banana and vegetables like Chinese, Amaranth, Okra, spinach and tomatoes, she also keeps poultry. Amina owns 1.5 acres of land where she grows the bananas on one acre and cassava on a half acre. She hires land for growing maize, rice and vegetables.

‘’To me cassava and banana are the crops that I depend for sell while maize and rice I produce for food but if it happens to get excess then it is sold” said Amina. Previously, she never used to grow cassava, bananas and vegetables but after she started taking care of her family and joined the group, she decided to produce these crops for income generation.

“Life was very tough at the beginning but when I joined the group that was established by SAT in 2013, through the trainings in agroecology, entrepreneurship, basic life skills, poultry keeping and saving and lending, I realized that it is possible to break through” she said. She sells bananas, cassava and vegetables, the income earned is used to support her family, for home expenditure, buying books and uniforms for her children. “When I compare 5 years ago, my income has increased almost 4 times. I save the excess income in the group saving and lending``. With the savings she makes she plans to buy land and construct a new house.