File:Dorah and her tractor (8076345680).jpg

Dorah Alberto Myinga, from Iringa region in Tanzania’s southern highlands, took up farming after she finished her primary education and realized that her parents could not afford to pay fees to send her to secondary school.

She began by tilling the land with a hand hoe, but – armed with a determination to increase her produce and a desire to cultivate more land – she managed to buy a plough. Recently she decided to upgrade further.

It’s very rare for a female farmer here to own a tractor, but Dorah joined a local Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCO), which helped her get credit to pay for the tractor in instalments.

“Cooperatives are important,” she says, “for they are more vocal than individuals are. Being part of it has helped me realize my dreams.”

With her tractor, Dorah now cultivates 12 acres of land, from which she reaps 14 bags of maize per acre. The food she grows helps her pay back the loan from the SACCO, but she also hires the tractor out to other villagers, and further across the region

Read more about Dorah's story: oxf.am/J9w