This is why World Renew is walking alongside communities that experience high rates of hunger and malnutrition to help them find long-term ways to provide for their families.
In remote communities of Nicaragua, for example, a food security program implemented by Christian Medical Action (AMC) in partnership with World Renew is just entering its second phase after the initial four-year phase wrapped up in 2012. Through this program, men and women are learning farming techniques that allow them to grow new crops and improve their family’s well-being.
The program is built on shared learning. First AMC staff members train farmers in new, innovative ways to manage their natural resources. Then AMC selects agricultural promoters who can commit to implementing the new practices on their own land.
Francisca is one of the individuals who was selected to be an agricultural promoter and is helping to improving her family’s health while also impacting her entire community for the better.
Francisca is one of the individuals who was selected to be an agricultural promoter and is helping to improving her family’s health while also impacting her entire community for the better.
Francisca was born and raised in Nazareth I, where she attended school for just two years before she dropped out to work in the fields and learn agriculture. She married a farmer, German Melgar, and they worked on other people’s land in order to earn an income. After a few years, they decided to leave Nazareth I in search of other job opportunities. It was difficult for Franscisa to be away from her hometown, but she held out hope that someday she would return and build a life for her family.
That is exactly what happened some years later, when Francisca’s father left her an inheritance of 21 acres of farmland that she could use for her family home.
Although Francisca was living near her extended family, things were difficult. Her family planted the basic staple crops of beans and corn—the essentials in the diet of a typical Miskito family. They worked hard to increase production but oftentimes droughts, insects, or other circumstances would damage their crop and limit their harvest.
Through AMC, Francisca she has now learned to grow new crops to diversify what is on her field and help that some will grow even in drought conditions. She also learned better farming techniques to apply to her small farm field. In addition, Francisca learned the importance of a more well-rounded diet and the need to incorporate vegetables, fruit, and meat into her family’s diet.
“Our family meals are more nutritious now,” Francisca said. "Before, I didn’t even know what a cucumber was. Now we have them on our own land! And when my children see them growing, they run to tell me so we can eat them fresh."
Since Francisca’s family can grow all the food on their own land, this new diet is affordable and something they can continue long into the future.
And Francisca’s family members are not the only ones enjoying better health because of this food security program. As an agricultural promoter, she is currently mentoring her daughter and three other farmers in techniques like crop diversification, organic fertilizer, soil conservation, and irrigation systems. She is inspiring others to change their lives for the better!
