My agricultural land

Nowadays, Pandeli Malaveci manages to produce from 35 acres of land. Only 12 of them belong to his household, while the rest he rents.

"We used to spend those little incomes we had at whim, without knowing how to manage it properly, so we did not know what to sow and what were the products that this land could sustain better. Since we have plenty of land now, seasonally, we hire 5-10 workers as me and my wife cannot handle the workload. So we have solved our financial problem," – he says as he contemplates the years past.

He has tried other businesses earlier, such as construction, but despite the fact that his daily earnings were significant, the work was seasonal. Therefore he decided to return to the land and the crops. At first it was difficult to earn enough to cover expenses for the seeds, maintenance and growing of the products, while profits were too early to expect, says the Korça farmer: "A solution had to be found because the children grew and together with them grew the expenses. At that time I could not bear the thought that my children might not be able to attend school, more so because it is not that they had been neglecting it. I was questioning it back then because of the financial conditions, but I had assigned myself the task to work with all my strength just so that I could provide my children with a bright future. Eventually everything went smoothly. Getting to know World Vision was my lucky break."

For two consecutive years he was part of the training organized by World Vision Albania and Kosovo. This way they learned how to manage their business, crops that they would cultivate, seed selection, land’s composition, and how to show constant care in order to get quality output. He says he is now mainly involved with the production of beans, potatoes and peppers. He started planting little by little by taking slow but secure steps because today's profits exceed twice as much the income he earned 4-5 years ago.

He tells us that without friends, nothing is achieved, and luckily he also has had a friend who has shown him the way: "That friend is World Vision, and it was not a friend only to me, but to many others, and in many ways. They helped us clean up the drainage channels, open the water wells for those who needed them and installed water-pumps for watering the soil. One of the techniques we have learned is that contrary to our former practice to use wood and wire to fix the products, we now use reed, which means that beans grow more and yield more production, do not rot and are less infected. So, besides that, thanks to this assistance, my son is able to continue his tertiary education at nursery faculty of Korça, while my daughter is in Pojan enrolled in high school. She also is involved in youth groups of World Vision. Whereas my wife and I continue to work on the field" - he speaks gratefully that everything is going well for him now.