Chamila Weerasingha started her own small business selling foods to augment her family’s income. Her business was doing well until COVID-19 happened. Her business became slow as people remained indoors due to the pandemic. She shifted to selling vegetables, but due to the rain, it did not succeed. Still, she did not give up. She tried her hand at selling manioc, pineapples, and dry fish by the road using a leased car. Chamila makes enough income from this business to give her children an education and also help with household expenses. Chamila is among the beneficiaries of the ARISE-Farmers program in Sri Lanka.
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The Assuring Resiliency of Family Farmers amidst COVID-19 (ARISE-Farmers) aims to contribute to achieving the SDG goal of ending hunger and poverty by empowering federated farmer groups to meet the needs of their members as well as ensure the health and sufficient food supply during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. ARISE-Farmers builds on the coverage of the IFAD regional grant Asia Pacific Farmers Programme (APFP). The target group is the same as APFP with a specific focus on smallholder men and women farmers/producers needing production assistance for the immediate next cropping season within the lockdown or post lockdown.
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