Smallholder Farmers Are the Answer

Typical corn harvest on small family farm

Today on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation blog, Bill Gates makes a powerful statement: Smallholder farmers are the solution to the global hunger epidemic.

But, why farming? Gates explains in his post...

"Many people don’t realize it, but most of the world’s poorest people are small farmers. They get their food and income farming small plots of land. These farming families often don’t have good seeds, equipment, reliable markets, or money to invest that helps them get the most out of their land. So they work hard, but they get no traction, and more often than not, they stay hungry and poor."

He goes on to state, "smart investments in farming families help them become more self sufficient."

This is exactly what the Koins/Self Reliant Agriculture (SRA) partnership is about. Preliminary work has been done, and in June SRA board members will be in Kenya to oversee a pilot farm using Koins land to show the local farmers what can be done. Unfortunately, since the farmers depend on the crops they raise for their immediate survival, there is understandable hesitation to try a new system. Using Koins land as an example, and SRA expertise, we will begin a new chapter in our work in Kenya. We hope to not only expand the production of crops, we hope to increase the nutritional value of the crops being grown with diversity and better choices and food options.

We are excited for this work to begin. We will be reporting back on the progress of our work.

Asante sana!

IVL