This month, three internationally recognized observance days coincide with the agriculture and food self-sustainability initiatives supported by Bread and Water for Africa® in various sub-Saharan African countries. These observance days offer a significant opportunity to emphasize and advocate for sustainable agricultural practices and food security measures, which are essential to the region’s development goals.
October 15 is the United Nations International Day of Rural Women, with this year’s theme being “The Rise of Rural Women: Building Resilient Futures with Beijing+30,” with the goal of shedding light on persistent inequalities faced by rural women around the world, including sub-Saharan Africa, where Bread and Water for Africa® works to alleviate those inequalities.
“Achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only the right thing to do but is a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and climate change,” states the UN, noting that women are responsible for half the world’s food production.
According to the UN, women make up close to 40 percent of the global agricultural labor force, reaching more than 50 percent in certain parts of Africa and Asia.
Additionally, “Rural women have less access to a range of resources, from land rights and credit to education and technology,” states the UN.
“Although women make up almost four out of every 10 people in the agricultural workforce, they own only about 15 percent of agricultural land,” according to the UN, which adds: “If women had the same access to productive resources as men, farm yields could increase by 20-30 percent, feeding an additional 100 to 150 million people.”
For the past several years in Sierra Leone, thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, we have been able to provide grant funding to two of our in-country partners, Faith Healing Development Organization (FHDO) and Rural Youth Development Organization-Sierra Leone (RYDO-SL), to provide training to primarily women farmers to help them increase their harvests on their small tracts of land.
Along with the training in best agricultural practices, we are also able to provide them with seeds, fertilizers, and tools necessary to enable them not only grow enough to feed their families, but also to grow a surplus to sell at local markets and generate income for household expenses, such as paying the school fees to send their children to school.
Among those we reported on earlier this year is Mabinty, a mother of three living in Mogbwemo Village who became her children’s sole breadwinner after a divorce and her former husband leaving the area and not being heard from since.
Pastor Francis A.B. Rogers, FHDO district coordinator, told us the family’s “living conditions became sour in the face of the biting economic crunch” as she struggled to earn money to feed her children and herself.
However, her and her children’s lives changed for the better after she completed the training program and today, she is not only providing enough food for herself and her children; she is also able to send her kids to the village school, start a small business and even save money.
“I am so grateful to God that He brought Bread and Water for Africa® and FHDO to our village to save us from suffering,” says Mabinty.
October 16 is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) World Food Day with this year’s theme of “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.”
“Ending hunger is within reach,” the FAO states. “Innovation is transforming how food is produced, stored, transported and marketed.
“It brings together advances in science and technology with the knowledge, experience and ingenuity of farmers, fishers, herders and foresters - including women, youth and Indigenous Peoples – as well as investors, policymakers and entrepreneurs, because transforming our agrifood systems requires collective action.”
In Malawi, our partner, the Faithful Heart Foundation (FHF), is training women and men farmers in the innovative method of agriculture known as Farming God’s Way (FGW), which relies on no-till of the soil to prevent erosion of precious topsoil and how to use drip irrigation to keep crops watered even in times of severe drought.
Last summer, thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, a total of 153 individuals, including 71 women, 31 men, 25 elders, 15 girls and 11 boys, were trained in the FGW method of conservation agriculture.
The purpose, says FHF chairperson Alex Steven Bango, is “imparting knowledge from the Bible in farming with the heart of improving their livelihoods and living standards for a better future,” as well as equipping them with necessary tools, including drip kits and buckets for irrigation, sprayers, and rakes.
Among them was a youth who left school when he was in the fourth grade who, following the training, is using the knowledge he learned to grow crops and sell his surplus vegetables at local markets.
“The money he earns he uses to buy his daily needs,” Alex reported.
October 17 is the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty to recognize that “ending poverty is inseparable from protecting human rights, human dignity and peace.”
The 2026 – 2028 theme is “United for Peace and Human Rights,” with the focus on this year’s observance being “Safe Homes for All,” highlighting adequate housing as a foundation for security, participation, and a life of dignity.”
Through the Bread and Water for Africa® agriculture and food self-sustainability program, smallholder farmers are able to continue living on the land and in the communities they love through the financial security they obtain by not having to spend money purchasing food for themselves and their families, but also by generating income which allows them to not be forced to leave their homes to seek low-wage employment in urban areas.
“People already experiencing poverty and exclusion bear the greatest burden,” states the UN. “Without a safe and stable home, access to health care, education, employment and participation in community life becomes far more difficult.
“Housing insecurity is not simply a question of shelter. Unsafe, unaffordable, overcrowded or insecure housing can reinforce poverty and exclusion, and undermine the enjoyment of other human rights.”
And as UN Secretary-General António Guterres notes, “Poverty is not a personal failure; it is a systemic failure – a denial of dignity and human rights.”
Together, these three international observances highlight the close connection between empowering rural women, advancing sustainable agriculture, improving food security and reducing poverty. Through our partnerships in Sierra Leone and Malawi, Bread and Water for Africa® is helping smallholder farmers gain the training, tools, and resources they need to feed their families, earn reliable income, and remain rooted in their communities. These efforts show that investing in local farmers—especially women—can create lasting change, protect human dignity and build more resilient futures across sub-Saharan Africa.
