Bread and Water for Africa® Supporting Impoverished Malawian Women Farmers on This World Food Day

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Bread and Water for Africa® Supporting Impoverished Malawian Women Farmers on This World Food Day

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Today, October 16, is World Food Day, commemorating the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945, with this year’s theme of “Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future.”

“Around 733 million people are facing hunger in the world due to repeated weather shocks, economic downturns, inequality and the pandemic,” states the FAO. “This impacts the poor and vulnerable most severely, many of whom are agricultural households, reflecting widening inequalities across and within countries.”

Such the case for millions living in poverty in sub-Saharan African countries where Bread and Water for Africa® works, such as Malawi, where thanks to our supporters we are able to provide grant funding for agricultural training for small holder farmers – primarily women – offered by our partner there, the Faithful Heart Foundation (FHF).

FHF focuses on teaching these farmers – 70 women and 30 men for the coming year – a method of conservation agriculture utilizing no-till and the application of mulch cover to prevent soil erosion and mitigate the devastating effects of climate change along with crop rotation at lessen the environmental stress on depleted soils known as Farming God’s Way (FGW).

FHF chairperson Alex Steven Bango says the mission and goals of his organization are to reduce malnutrition in children, as well as “hunger reduction at the family, community and national levels” which will lead to long term benefits of improving incomes for households and overall personal well-being.

With grant funding from Bread and Water for Africa® at less than $40 per person, FHF is able to operate training programs and provide participants with starter pack kits, seeds and farming tools and equipment.

“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 Alex, 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.”

And not only will the training this year directly benefit the participants, it also indirectly benefits hundreds of children and other family members who rely on them for food and livelihoods.

Among those who completed FGW training this year is Dorothy Dinala, a single mother of five, who Alex told us that “She is very much thankful to Bread and Water for Africa® for the hidden treasure she received.”

In addition to growing enough food to feed herself and her family, she also managed to grow a surplus which she sold at a local market generating proceeds of 28,000 Malawian Kwacha – and while $16.15 in U.S. dollars may not sound like much to Americans, but for millions living on less than $2.15 per day in the fourth poorest country in the world (according to the World Bank) it’s the equivalent of two weeks’ wages.

Another is Chrissy Pierson, a mother of two, who relies on surplus vegetables she raises to generate income to purchase all their needs, and even allow her to save a portion of her proceeds.

“In this type of farming this are great hidden profits,” said Chrissy. “My family is not taking on more debts as we did before we started this Farming God’s Way farming.”

She also reported that with her success, the word has spread in her community as “some more villagers come to buy from me because I am one of the few farmers in this village” and offering her gratitude to Alex and the Faithful Heart Foundation and the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® “for their tremendous work and encouragement they offer to us.”

And all of us at Bread and Water for Africa® wholeheartedly agree with these words from the FAO on this World Food Day:

“Food is the third most basic human need after air and water – everyone should have the right to adequate food.”

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