Organics for Orphans: Our Hope for their Future
Organics for Orphans, a Hope for the Nations program is targeting two issues endemic in Africa: the impoverishment of farmers who comprises the largest workforce sector and the homelessness of millions of orphans.
Africa is the only continent where food production per capita has fallen in the last four decades. Other continents have tripled their outputs.
A very high percentage of Africans eke out a living on small plots of one to two acres. Typically, they rely on limited water and unsustainable farming methods for crops with low market value.
Often faced with declining productivity, small-scale farmers in Africa often abandon the land in the hopes of finding opportunity in urban centers. All too often, they swell the ranks of the extreme poor in the urban slums.
There are an estimated 34 million orphans in Africa. Time and again, we see grandmothers, older siblings and neighbours caring for the parentless, even in the face of their own extreme poverty. How much more could Africas generous communities do for their orphans when the conditions for sustainable agriculture are not in place?
Together with our community partners, we are taking a three-pronged approach to transforming small-scale agriculture and the orphan pandemic starting in Kenya:
1. Sharing leading-edge agricultural practices:
Organics for Orphans is connecting struggling African farmers with local experts in bio-intensive organic farming and natural cultivation methods. Using these proven techniques, small-scale farmers can yield multiple, high-quality harvests each year, superior to conventional chemical-based produce using cutting edge Effective Microorganisms (EM.) Hope for the Nations through the program Organics for Orphans have several agricultural sites to demonstrate bio-intensive organic farming.
2. Providing organic agricultural inputs:
Organics for Orphans enables small-scale farmers to access locally made, highly affordable, top quality organic fertilizer (www.rutuba.com). We support water harvesting, conservation and provide assistance in drilling wells for community use. Farmers wishing to diversify their crops and shift to higher-value produce are provided with seeds and technologies to cultivate crops with greater market value.
The productive capital of a farm is its soil. Fertility makes the difference between a surplus or starvation. Switching to a more organic approach, water is held in the soil longer by the higher organic content reducing the need for irrigation. Commercial fertilizers have doubled in price in the last decade in Africa and are not viable both cost wise and environmentally.
3. Connecting thriving communities with orphans:
By enabling families to produce reliable food and generate income, Organics for Orphans is creating the conditions for generosity. In return for the organic farming support, local farmers can then graft local orphans into their prospering families.
The Organics For Orphans program is delivered through Hope for the Nations by a volunteer team of professionals from the health and organic farming sectors with guidance from NGO advisers. These NGO experts have the experience in building healthy homes for orphans in over 20 nations.
Natural Calm Canada partnering with Purity Life Products are one of the main contributors to Organics for Orphans, To find out how you can support this program, contact www.NaturalCalm.ca or 1-866-854-2256 in North America. For more information on Hope for the Nations go to www.HopefortheNations.com
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EM-Technologyby mnasir202016,524 views
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