Why is it strategic to immediately dedicate ourselves to agricultural development?
- To prevent and divert famine.
- It is estimated that only 2% of the arable land in this region of East Africa is being farmed, and the people are still living at a subsistence level that makes them vulnerable to famine.
- 95% of the population depend on agriculture. Currently this region of East Africa faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian and food security situations.
- 50% of the region’s people are food insecure and the regions which were affected most by the civil war are entering a famine.
- More than 3 million peoplehave been displaced by violence in This region of East Africa since mid-December 2013
- It was estimated (as of Dec. 2015) that about 2.4 million people are facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity and the outlook for 2016 is dire.
- Due to insecurity, food aid cannot reach all areas and other areas are becoming dependent on the food aid and not returning to farming.
- A study of education in the region found that in every school surveyed the number one barrier to learning identified was that the children were hungry and could not concentrate on their studies past mid-day.
The Opportunity
The above statistics demonstrate why agriculture is an effective way to show the love, mercy and grace of Christ. We use the Community Health Evangelism model to address the issue of training in agriculture and record keeping.
The Community Health Evangelism model also provides the spiritual foundation for the local communities through small group accountability and also the needed emphasis on preventative medicine. When community transformation takes place and other communities see the transformation and want to follow suit the missionaries encourage the “transformed” community to continue the training in other communities (not the missionaries).