March 1998

31st March 1998

New Project Village

DORS has recently started working in Juetuo, an Yi Minority village with a population of 600. This poor village is divided into four parts, two of which are by the road in the Dadu river valley, the other two are over an hours walk up the mountainside. The village is short of agricultural land as the mountainside is very steep. To supplement household income some men have left the village to look for temporary labouring work. After discussing with people in the village we decided to implement the following projects:

Women's Rural Credit Scheme

The scheme began this month with loans made to sixty women. Higher income households were not included. Most women borrowed the maximum available loan of 1,000 RMB (£74), and they decided to make repayments twice yearly. This differs from DORS first Rural Credit Scheme in Sugu Village where loans are repaid on a monthly basis. Most women in Juetuo are using their loans for expanding animal husbandry, mainly raising pigs for market, so the twice yearly repayments are convenient.

Irrigation Water Supply

We are now designing, with the help of the Water Conservancy Bureau, two irrigation water projects for Juetuo. At present there is only a small area of irrigated land in the village. DORS proposed plan will more than double the area under irrigation. The village leader estimates that for every mu (fifteenth of a hectare) irrigated, the household annual income from crop production will reach 1,000 RMB. DORS is seeking funding for this project.
Quick Response Micro Projects

Last month we announced that we would be starting some quick response micro projects, responding to requests direct from village group leaders. Two micro projects have already begun. In Sugu Village, no. 6 hamlet's irrigation channel is now being repaired and new piping is bringing water to the fields. In Moduo Village no. 1 hamlet piping has been bought to channel a mountain stream to the existing water piping, securing an adequate drinking supply for the winter months. DORS provided a total of 11,475 RMB (£850) in funds for materials for these two projects, which was given direct to the hamlets.