RALPH WENGE, CNN ANCHOR: About 98 percent of the world's rural women work in agriculture. The International Labor Organization says women farmers carry most of the responsibility for both commercial agriculture and food crop production. Their jobs include, among other things, finding water for sustenance and irrigation, often an impossible task. The U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development reports on the plight of women farmers in Tanzania and a plan to help bring them much needed water.</s>GILLIAN HAZELL, IFAD TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dadoma (ph) lies in the middle of the semi-arid central plateau of Tanzania, an area prone to drought. Only 65 percent of the town's people have access to clean drinking water, whilst in some rural villages only one quarter have access. Today, the situation is improving, as new solutions are being explored. Monica Mardi (ph) is 35 years old, or maybe 40, she is not sure. She only went to school for three days and then her husband kidnapped her. Monica had four surviving children of eight she delivered, and her husband, a Masana (ph) chief, has 15 wives. They all belong to the same homestead and live in primitive huts isolated from the world. Naturally, they have no water at home, so Monica has to make her reserves of water go a long way. The wealth of the family depends on their cattle, and finding sufficient water for them is also a problem. The children take the cattle out to graze, moving between water points. To supply these villages with water, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, launched a water and health project supported by the Belgium Survival Fund. The villagers formed water and health
U.N. Fund for Agricultural Development Looks to Help Tanzanians in Search of Much-Needed Water