The Quad Cities are home to Deere and Company, so we’re used to those big green beauties and other brands of large agricultural equipment planting and harvesting enormous fields of corn and soybeans. That’s the opposite of subsistence farming. Iowa and Illinois produce grain to feed the world. A subsistence farmer barely produces enough to feed a family, and there is typically a hungry season before the new crop is ready for harvest.
While training for the honey project was going on, Suzanne heard about farmers in Thonkomba who had been without seed for twenty years. Rather than farming their own land, they worked as day laborers at a commercial farm in their vicinity and earned about a dollar a day. Suzanne grew up as an Illinois farm girl, so when the contradiction of a farmer without seed was too much. White Field Partners was able to make a seed grant to those farmers. The farmers produced a big enough harvest to plant crops the next season.
Subsistence farming is backbreaking work done with simple hand tools. Often a farmer doesn’t own tools, and has to borrow or rent them. The amount of land in production is limited by farmers’ time and energy. A lot of agricultural labor is done by women. (photo from BBC)
“Unlocking Africa’s agriculture potential would also unlock its development. Farming is Africa’s main livelihood: more than two-thirds of Africans depend on agriculture for their incomes. Investing in agriculture is one of the best ways to reduce poverty in Africa. According to World Bank analysis, growth in the agriculture sector is 2.5 times as effective at reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. . . .When connected to markets, smallholder farmers can generate an income and create a ‘multiplier effect’ – sending their children to school and stimulating the economy in order to help lift their community out of poverty for the long term. Crucially, if women farmers received equal investment, productivity in Africa could rise by more than 22%, meaning more produce for markets, more income for women and more food for children. (study by One.org source document)
Along with improved seeds, access to fertilizer, and agricultural training, appropriate mechanization is a key. One of our dreams is to purchase a two-wheel tractor designed for smallholder farmers to be used by a village. We will, of course, have to provide training in operation and maintenance and ensure access of repair parts.
We don’t underestimate the power of women to make things happen. Please watch these rural Sierra Leonean women in action in this video from the BBC.