I am always intrigued by how much food is produced, with a Iittle bit of work in a field or garden, with some tiny seeds and God’s abundant blessings of sun and rain.

At this time of year, many farmers harvest their food and crops from the past growing season. And yet it is baffling to read from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization report that even though enough food is produced worldwide to feed everyone, one of every eight peopie are still ììving in hunger. Most of the 1.4 billion people living on less than US $1.25 a day live in rural areas and depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

These farmers typically have land holdings of less than two hectares (or five acres), and in Africa are producing over 80 percent of the agricultural output. This has been my experience in working with farmers in rural Uganda years ago: smallholder farmers often struggle when their agriculture techniques lead to low production, low consumption, and low levels of household income.

So you can imagine my joy when I received the recent report from World Renew's Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security (SAFS) working group. They gave oversight to a total of $56,765 used to fund seven agriculture and food-security projects and four capacity-building events this past year.

The result? An amazing 6,063 stalkholder farmers were able to overcome hunger, and 15 World Renew and partner staff directly benefited from learning opportunities and increased skills. Imagine an average gift of $10 completely changed a farm family’s life as they learned such sustainable agriculture techniques as the System of Rice intensification (SRE), composting, green manures and cover crops, vermi-composting, integrated vegetable gardening, and off-season vegetable cultivation.

Harvest Honduras was one of the partners who received a $10,000 grant. Harvest’s staff, Ramiro Carbajal, shared this story:

“The participants from the community of Piedra de Agua surprised us a lot because we had not even completed half of the training, and they were already harvesting cucumbers! The produce was distributed among the families and the excess was sold to raise funds for finishing the church walls. This community was able to see the hand of God because, despite poor soil and a lack of water, they were able to see the fruits of their labor andthe mercy of God in their lives. The brothers and sisters of this community are very motivated and continue to plant their family gardens."

We praise God, our first and glorious Farmer for blessing these Iittie resources for so much harvest. We are grateful for staff, iocal and international, who get involved and contribute little gifts of their time and expertise to produce a big result. As they take the time to listen and engage people with their gifts, so much change can be achieved: better food security and nutrition, protected land rights, new and improved houses, expanded churches, and children in school.

After all, "What people want is an international assistance system that integrates the resources and experiences of outsiders with the assets and capacities of insiders to develop contextually appropriate strategies for pursuing positive change.”  (Quote from Time to Listen )

Blessings in Christ,

Ida Kaastra Mutoigo

Director
World Renew Canada