31 / 52
The Food Issue
2017
grainswest.com31
D
ESPITE THE 13,000 KILOMETRES THAT SEPARATE EARL JENINGA’S HOME
in Linden, AB, from rural farmers in Rwanda, he still feels a connection.
Jeninga and 11 other Canadians travelled to Rwanda in January to learn about
projects supported by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) and to see where
CFGB funds—which are primarily raised by Canadian farmers—are being put to work.
According to the CFGB’s 2015/16 annual report, $551,940 was budgeted for Rwanda
during that fiscal year, benefitting a forecasted 20,570 people through agriculture and
livelihood assistance projects.
Most of the funds for Rwanda, and countries like it, come from CFGB growing
projects like the one Jeninga leads in Linden, where a 300-acre rotation of wheat,
barley and canola is grown, harvested and sold to the local community every year.
This money can go a long way in a country like Rwanda, where many farmers could be
more productive if given better equipment and growing methods.
“They’re trying to grow the best crop they possibly can with the tools that they
have, and we’re trying to give them the tools,” said Jeninga, who also manages
Kneehill Soil Services.
CFGB executive director JimCornelius said there’s a unity among farmers, whether the
farms are located across the street from each other or on opposite sides of the globe.
Many of the issues Canadian farmers face—frommarket forces to weather problems and
everything in between—are familiar to their colleagues in other countries.
“There’s a way of feeling solidarity with other farmers,” Cornelius said. “They face a
lot of similar issues but on a different scale.”
That connection is a vital cornerstone on which the foundation of the CFGB was
built. The organization began in 1976 through the Mennonite Central Committee.
Missionaries who travelled to African countries witnessed first-hand the food
shortages residents faced, and came home resolved to help. The result was a pilot
project that allowed Canadian grain farmers to share their harvests with those less
fortunate around the world.
The group reorganized and expanded in 1983/84, just in time to make a significant
contribution to fight the famine ravaging Ethiopia at the time. Today, the CFGB
includes 15 church agencies representing 30 Canadian denominations and works to
raise money for a number of projects, including agriculture and livelihood programs to
teach farmers in developing countries how to best produce food on a long-term basis.
The CFGB also spearheads food assistance projects to help people who are hungry
because of crisis situations like war, drought or flooding. As well, its work now includes
nutrition projects aimed at reducing malnutrition through education, provision of clean
water and special feeding programs. Within Canada, the CFGB is an advocate for
national and international public policy change to enable families and communities to
better feed themselves.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
In Rwanda, Jeninga saw first-hand the teaching programs that are partially funded by
the CFGB, leaving him confident that growing project funds are being put to good
use. He also had a valuable opportunity to learn from the Rwandan farmers.
A CFGB partnership with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency funds a
farmer field school in the Ndego sector of Rwanda’s Eastern Province. The sector
is located near the Ugandan border, and although it is only 120 kilometres north of
Kigali, it takes about three hours to drive there from the Rwandan capital via the twisty
roads of the Rwandan hillside.
The farmer field school teaches its roughly 30 members the tenets of conservation
agriculture—such as moisture and soil preservation, and crop rotation.
Odette Nzayisenga, the president of the farmer field school, explained that prior to
the school’s creation two years ago, its current members had no agricultural skills and
NG
THE
WEALTH