With the right equipment and training in construction, farmers can build a barn, to keep their seeds rat free and rot proof. This means they can decide when to plant, harvest or sell their crops and get bigger yields and higher prices.
Oxfam has been working in Kan'goma, Malawi, for more than eight years and helped to set up the Village Development Committee, which is now well-established. A member of the committee said: "Oxfam had helped us see that it was important to help those who were suffering - orphans, the elderly and the chronically ill ... Now we have a secure grain store, we can sell surplus grain at a very low cost to those who need it - or we can give it away to those who are experiencing an extreme financial crisis."
Bernado Nyerere was very sick for several months. Normally he grows maize, cassava and pigeon peas, but when he was sick he was too weak to get food for his family of 10. His wife went to the village head, Roderick Kaponda, for help and he was able to give her enough grain, and a small amount of cash, to see Bernado and his family through the crisis.