Pilot Project 13: And The Cycle Continues

Progress continues in the pilot group, and our meeting on Thursday was really exciting. It looks like everybody from the first planting group will begin moving seedlings from the nursery into their now-prepared fields this week, and everybody from the second group has planted in the nursery. And as far as we can tell every single person bought certified quality seed, instead of spending money on questionable seeds to save cash and potentially losing their crop (as they have in the past). And I can't even say how great I think that is.

Even more exciting, though, was the farm records training we did. One of the issues that we wanted to address in the group was the lack of record keeping among small-scale farmers. Without good records, farmers don't have the ability to compare their profits between crops or their productivity between different years and farm techniques. In other words, they aren't learning year to year what they can learn about their own farms. And this seems to be where the most important learning happens: not on demonstration farms or from government ministries but on an individual's farm year to year through hands on experience.

So we had this great training for the farmers on how to keep records of what they spend on inputs (including the opportunity cost of their labor), what they do in terms of work on the farm, and what they get when they sell. The best part? The entire training was done by one of the farmers within the group.

We began with this group by explaining that we believe God has given these poor communities resources to manage and steward in such a way that they can improve their lives and overcome problems by working together. This is part of what it means to be made in the image of God and given the task of stewardship over the creation. And this training of the farmers by the farmers gave us the chance to remind them that they really do have resources and abilities, gifts and strengths, and that God has given them all of it to use for His glory and for their families and their community.

We began by talking about this group's special resources and abilities, and now here right in the middle of planning we're seeing new gifts and abilities coming up from the group. And so the cycle continues.

Peace,
Michael