Sustainable Livelihoods Project 2020

Edging Forward Viable And Practicable Environment For The Future Generation

After the newly fixed and upgraded gravity water system in placed for the 5 villages in 2019, water supplies are now easily accessible for daily usage and agricultural purpose for the 3,400 villagers in Kota Belud. In 2020, Hopes Malaysia decides to deepen our social impact in the 3 selected villages in Kota Belud Sabah via "Sustainable Livelihoods Project 2020" to achieve Five community development goals. This project is a long running program which is targeting more than 50 households (rural farmers) to improve the community's living condition and breaking the cycle of poverty in their future generations. The five community development goals will ultimately provide significant and sustainable impact for the underprivileged rural community on better livelihood.

5. Community Socioeconomic Development

Strategize ways to improve small scale farmers' household incomes sustainably.

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4. Food Security and Better Livelihoods

Expand and diversify the variety of crops and poultry for self consumption to achieve balance intake of nutrients especially for children.

Safety

Education

Socioeconomic

Agriculture

Food

2020
Development Goals

1. Community’s Public Safety and Accessibility

Provide safe accessing condition for the entire community and the school children.

2. Education and Empowerment

Equip farmers to diversify from low value staple food commodities into higher value commodities.

3. Sustainable Agriculture and Environment Development

Encourage environmental sustainable farming to ensure production of consistent and high quality crops.

Photo 1: Broken Part

Photo 2: Rusted BRC Mesh

1. Community’s Public Safety and Accessibility

This 100m hanging bridge is the only access into the village and a primary school since the earthquake in 2015. It connects hundreds of villagers and school children to other villages and town.

Current problems:

- Broken wood plank

- Rusted and broken wire mesh
- Risking the safety of villagers and children daily 

Solution:
- Replace broken wood plank & wire mesh

2. Education and Empowerment

Rural farmer lack access to  knowledge about market demandable agricultural commodities, absence of commercialization of agriculture and information that lead the community agricultural outputs is steadily declining in recent years, rural farmers want to quit agriculture if given an alternate choice.

Current Problems:
- Lack of long term strategy and resource planning

Solutions:
- Encourage farmer using organic farming method
- Diversify from low value food into high value commodities

Outcome:
- Produce high value crops

3. Sustainable Agriculture and Environment Development

For decades, rural farmers used to the traditional farming (monoculture) system to grow the same crops year after year, using enormous amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers that damage soils that lead to poor quality of soil and also degrading the quality of their produce.

Current Problems:

- Planting the same crop in the same place each year zaps nutrients from the earth and leaves soil weak and weakening the plant growth.
- When the soil quality is poor, farmers are forced to use chemical fertilizers to encourage plant growth and fruit production.
- Pesticides and fertilizers make their way into ground water creating pollution.
- Increase crops diseases and pest

- Affect the quality of produce​

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Solutions:
- Promote biodiversify farming method
- Minimize usage of inorganic material to promote soil health, and lower pollution levels on the farm

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Outcomes:
- Naturally fertilize the soil to improve the planting environment and prevent soil degradation

- Better crops quality

4. Food  Security and Better Livelihoods

Expand and diversify the variety of crops and poultry for self consumption to achieve balance intake of nutrients especially for children.

Current Problems:

- Limited food varieties
- Imbalance nutrients intake in children

Solutions:
- Increase type of crops and poultry for own consumption

Outcomes:
- Better diet
- Children have better physical and mental development

5. Community's Socioeconomic Development

95% of the residing villagers are small scale farmers. More than 70% of their income is from selling their crops either to middleman or nearby villages.

Current Problems:

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1. Instability of agricultural production:
- Unsustainable farming practices (monoculture farming)
- Unpredictable weather / season affecting production

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2. Transportation challenges in rural areas:
- Increase difficulty and cost in delivering community's produce
 

3. Implications of middlemen in the supply chain of agricultural products:
- Farmers do not have bargaining / negotiating power, prices fluctuate according to seasons.

- Farmers lack of information on current market demand
 

4. Stagnant and low income versus high living cost:

- The instability of farming income
- Impact of price hike on consumers' livelihood

Solutions:
- Diversify variety of crops for more income source
- Cut the middlemen out from the supply chain to increase farmer's profit margin
- Set fixed rate with buyers to prevent fluctuation

- Continue to expand the city demand

Outcomes:
- Target to increase more than 50% of current household incomes
- Support future generations for better education

- Better living space, sanitation environment