The first task of project participants was to help villagers improve their agriculture, based on a conviction that economic development rests on agricultural productivity.

Continuous farming had left Sauri�s soil totally depleted, prompting villagers to clear trees in other fields to grow food.

Sauri�s farmers were taught fallow farming techniques and how to use leguminous crops and fertiliser to enrich the soil. The harvest quadrupled within a year � leaving villagers with the novel problem of where to store surplus grain.