“When small farmers are able to produce more while preserving the land’s fertility for future generations, they can improve their families’ nutrition and become self-sufficient for the long term.”
So stated the Gates Foundation in 2011 upon U.S. philanthropist Bill Gates (and Howard G. Buffett) being named the recipients of the World Food Programs (WFP) George McGovern Leadership Award, given to policymakers and leaders for their critical role in the fight against hunger.
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted in her remarks that the focus Gates and Buffett “have brought to individual smallholder farmers has been really a change agent in the world of fighting hunger and improving food security.”
According to Clinton, “60 to 70 percent of the world’s farmers labor on small plots, primarily for themselves and their families, with the hope that there will also be some left over for the purpose of increasing their incomes.
“If we help those farmers produce more, they’ll be able to provide a greater base of nutrition and security for their families, with some left over to sell,” and adding, “I am especially grateful that the Foundation makes sure every grant supports an optimal role for women – because fostering women in agriculture is one of the most effective ways to increase production and nutritional outcomes.”
As for Bill Gates himself reflecting on the importance of agricultural solutions, he explained that “As we looked at what the great inequities are, we kept coming back to health and agriculture as the two that topped the list.
“If you can raise the incomes of small farmers, it changes livelihoods very quickly,” he was quoted as saying at the time in Business Wire.
Additionally, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported on “The Nutrition Challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa” in 2013 noting that sub-Saharan Africa “is home to some of the most nutritionally insecure people in the world.
“Poor infrastructure and limited resources compounded with conflict, HIV, and poor access to health services are factors that contribute to the staggering levels of malnutrition and food insecurity on the continent.”
Sadly, in the years since, the situation has not gotten much better for smallholder farmers where, according to the UNDP in September 2023, “sub-Saharan Africa faces a multifaceted crisis, impacting agrifood systems and food security severely due to climate change, wars, political instability and pandemics, resulting in a substantial USD 30 billion crop loss.”
At Bread and Water for Africa®, agricultural food self-sufficiency is among our core missions and today we are working in four sub-Saharan African countries – Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia – helping to ensure thousands have enough to eat whether it’s grown on their small tracts of land for themselves and family members or purchased affordably at local markets.
In Malawi, our partner there, the Faithful Heart Foundation (FHF) operates its Farming God’s Way program (also known as no-till conservation agriculture) with grant support from Bread and Water for Africa® to train smallholder farmers using to significantly increase the amount of their harvests to feed their families and generate income by selling surplus produce while also protecting their topsoil from erosion.
“This project trains poor, widowed and others interested in learning about Farming God’s Way principles with the purpose of training, equipping and imparting knowledge to local farmers who have the heart of improving their livelihood and living standards,” says FHF chairperson Alex Steven Bango, adding that it teaches them how to cultivate various types of vegetables and cereal crops such as maize, sorghum and millet at different growing seasons throughout the year.
In addition, “It also helps to change their mindsets from dependency of handouts to self-reliance.”
In Tanzania, Bread and Water for Africa® is supporting the Watoto Wa Africa (WWA) orphanage with grant funding to operate a farming program to directly benefit approximately 100 orphaned and street children living there.
“Since our partnership with Bread and Water for Africa® began, we have had the privilege of feeding the children three meals each day, living in a much improved, cleaner environment, and today we now have our own land where we can produce our own food,” says director Joseph Kirutu. “We even have a new well that we can now get our own water from.”
In 2024, Bread and Water for Africa® provided funding to purchase eight hectares (nearly 20 acres) of land, which has been plowed and planted with sorghum grain (a nutritious food rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins and minerals), sweet potatoes, corn, greens and more, to benefit the children and youth who call the WWA orphanage home.
In addition, we provided funding to construct a small, simple “watchmen’s house” as well as drill a well i to provide irrigation to the farmland during the long dry season.
In Sierra Leone, Bread and Water for Africa® supports two agricultural training programs supported by our partners Faith Healing Development Organization (FHDO) and Rural Youth Development Organization-Sierra Leone (RYDO-SL) to assist women and youth farmers.
At least as far back as 2019, Bread and Water for Africa® has been providing grant funding to FHDO for its farmers’ training program. Executive director Rev. Francis Mambu notes that an estimated 75 percent of all Sierra Leoneans are engaged in agriculture in one way or another, accounting for approximately 40 percent of the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
“Agriculture is the daily life occupation of most of the people in Sierra Leone, especially for those residing in the rural areas,” he said.
The land of Sierra Leone is fertile for farming, and the weather is favorable for crops to thrive, but Rev. Mambu and the women he helps continue to face great challenges.
“The people living in Yankansa and other surrounding villages are poor – they don’t have the money to invest in agricultural activities,” he explained. “Even though almost all of these people are engaged in farming, their output is small because of the lack of funds for expansion.”
However, for those who have received the training, he added, “These women groups are doing well, and their farms are expanding.”
And in Zambia, for several years Bread and Water for Africa® has been providing grant funding for an agricultural project benefiting children and youth living at the Kabwata Orphanage and Transit Centre.
To help meet the growing children’s need for food to stay healthy, Kabwata founder and executive director Angela Miyanda has for years been growing crops to feed the children in her care, as well as to sell the surplus at local markets to help keep the orphanage fiscally stable.
In 2021, thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® we were able to provide funding to have a large greenhouse constructed to assist Angela in keeping the children fed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Prices of essential foods have gone up,” she told us at the time. From the time of the infection in Zambia the economy has not done well, leading to major problems for many families and charitable organizations.”
The crops grown include cabbage, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, cucumbers, pumpkins, and local vegetables and “while the vegetables will be growing, our chicken coop will provide eggs” and its tilapia fish farming operation (also funded by Bread and Water for Africa® a few years prior) provides for both consumption by the children and also serves as an income-generator.
In fact, Angela estimates that 60 percent of the food for the children is grown right on Kabwata’s compound.
“The greenhouse will as a very long time. The crops can be grown at different intervals regardless of the season.”
