In the near-by village of Labelmar, we trained a group of farmers on a farming method called Farming God's Way. Upon completion, the farmers applied what they learned. The new system was put to a test as Haiti received very little rain last year; devastating for the farmers who need the crops to feed their families. The newly trained farmers who utilized this system were the only ones in their village that had crops to harvest. The neighbors realized the difference and wanted to know why. Through this unfortunate dry season, Farming God's Way gained popularity. More than a theory, they saw with their own eyes that this system works.The word spread and our program exploded.
Since then, my agronomists have been very busy. We have successfully trained 307 farmers! And have plans for another 90 in the next few weeks. Our 4-8 week course includes training on biblical, managerial, and technical farming keys, with the goal of making their farming more sustainable with greater outputs. We provide meals for each training (no one can learn when they are hungry), tools (a hoe, a machete, and a pickax), and seeds (corn and bean) to plant a 1/2 acre plot of land. We also visit the farmers during growing season to answer questions and encourage them.
We are very excited that for the first time, the farmers are paying to attend the training ($.30 per session). This doesn't seem like much to us, but to these farmers who are struggling to feed their families, it is. Our logic is that if you invest into something, you will have a greater chance of owning it.
We are also setting up a credit system in which they can purchase tools, seeds, and additional training. They earn credits by attending the classes, using the methods we teach in their farms, planting and taking care of the trees we give them. This will give them incentive to apply the methods used in our training. A long-term goal is to monetarily reward farmers that implement the program fully.
