Full control over the land of her diseased husband

13-03-2014 Ruth Milimo is 63 years old and lives in Muzabuka District in Zambia. She has 6 children who are living in Lusaka. Her husband passed away in 2010. He was the head of the farming business and owned the land. When her husband passed away the brothers of the husband wanted to have the land. However she gained 100% control over the land of her diseased husband. She has 80 hectares of land on which she grows maize, cotton, groundnuts and soybeans. She has no garden at the moment. She owns 21 cows. According to her she gained the full control over the land, because of her age. With younger women this is more difficult to get, especially when divorced. Ruth used to be a teacher at a primary school. She retired when she was 55 years old.

At her homestead are living one brother, one sister and two grandchildren. The brother and sister are also working on the farm. Ruth is part of a study circle group of the Cotton Association of Zambia as well as member of the Magoye Dairy Cooperative in Mazabuka. She grows 2 hectares of cotton. In the study circle group she learned how to improve the production. She uses the manure of the cows on the land. The challenge is the price of cotton, which was very low in the 2012-2013 season. Her study circle group has a savings and loan scheme. Within the group they closely monitor where loans are used for. It is very important to screen at the members homestead on the agricultural production, then the group is more sure that loans are paid back. The group started in June 2012 with 35 members. Now the group has 15 members, because some members had too little income from their farm for savings. The Cotton Association of Zambia has 38 credit and savings associations, their target is to have 60 associations. It is envisaged that farmers in the Mumbwe area would have mobilised at least US$ 98,000 through their own resources by the end of December 2013 under this scheme. The Cotton Assocation will start there their own ginnery.