This week we travel 12,000 km to Nazaret, a community in north-eastern Nicaragua. Lucia Méndez, a mother of four, is part of World Renew’s food security project in Nazaret, in partnership with Accion Médica Cristiana (AMC) and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Through this project, Lucia is learning how to rotate crops, make better use of her land, and prepare her own organic fertilizers, compost and pesticides.
This week we travel 12,000 km to Nazaret, a community in north-eastern Nicaragua. Lucia Méndez, a mother of four, is part of World Renew’s food security project in Nazaret, in partnership with Accion Médica Cristiana (AMC) and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Through this project, Lucia is learning how to rotate crops, make better use of her land, and prepare her own organic fertilizers, compost and pesticides.
For decades, many farmers in her community have relied on slash and burn agriculture techniques, where crops are harvested and then burned down to make space for next year’s planting. Years of this practice have left soil infertile, causing farmers to have difficulty producing a successful harvest.
Through World Renew’s program, Lucia has learned important lessons that help to improve her harvests. For example, she has replaced slash and burn techniques with crop rotation and the use of organic fertilizers, which protect the local environment and increase her own harvests, allowing her to better provide for her family.
Today, if you walk through Lucia’s farm, you’ll see a wide variety of crops growing – rice, beans, corn, oranges, lemons, papaya, coconut, coffee and cocoa! This family is also raising chickens, pigs, sheep and cows. Last year, after a successful harvest of cocoa, coffee and vegetables, she bought everything her family needed, and had money left over to purchase school supplies for her children! With the high demand for cocoa and coffee, Lucia plans to plant even more of these crops next year.
For Lucia, the opportunity to learn about conservation agriculture techniques transformed her family’s life. As her community witnesses her successes, she hopes that other farming families will be inspired to improve their harvests, too.
Lucia’s story is one of incredible success made possible through partnership—many people working together to ensure that communities thrive. Through the generosity of donors in North America, World Renew has been able to work alongside AMC and the Foodgrains Bank to bring transformation to Lucia’s community.
Join us for CFGB Sunday on March 5th to celebrate similar stories of partnership and transformation!
For more information about CFGB Sunday, click here or call 1-800-730-3490.
