File:Emiliana - from teacher to producer (8076345326).jpg

Emiliana Aligaesha, 69, is another Female Food Hero finalist, from Kagera region near the border of Tanzania and Rwanda. The fertile valleys and climate here are ideal for growing coffee, maize and bananas.

Widowed in 1992, Emiliana’s meagre salary as a primary school teacher was not enough to make ends meet. So she ventured into agriculture and, after a few years, realized that farming helped her pay the bills better than teaching, and she opted for early retirement.

“I wouldn’t be here if I was still a teacher,” she told me. “I knew there is a great wealth in farming. I was determined to see my kids in university but I couldn’t see my teacher’s salary doing that.”

Now her nine children have all been put through college. Despite her lack of formal agricultural training, villagers and local leaders declare Emiliana’s farm to be an exemplary one – well kept and with rich produce - and a shining example for the rest of the region.

Read more of Emiliana's story: oxf.am/JHu