A Farmer Who Dared

This is a true story. A small scale farmer in Mozambique, by Western standards, a poor man, saw the benefits of organic farming, made the transition and has never looked back. A church missionary organisation had come into the area and began teaching farmers organic farming. Their progress is good but slow because the local markets sell pesticides of all kinds and farmers are reluctant to change the way they have farmed for so long. But the farmer in this story patiently watched the demonstration plots set up by the mission, he saw how healthy the crops were and how abundant the crop yields were, so he too set about changing how he farmed. He told me that he always struggled to feed his family, but in the 5 years since he began farming organically his fields have provided well. Walking through his fields, he shows me how damp the soil is under the thick layer of mulch and ground cover crops, pumpkin and water melon. The maize is a healthy green colour and towers above us, yet all the adjacent fields are barren and dry whilst their owners await the rain so they can plant their crops. The organic farmer, on the other hand will soon be reaping the third crop that year. But although his methods are obviously successful, whilst many of his contemporaries in the community now farm as he does, the majority do not. Why? I don't know, but there is a transition taking place, and that is encouraging.

One thing to think about here, is that this story is about a farmer who has no mechanical aids to farm with. What he and his family produce from their land is what sustains them, it is their livelihood in the true sense of the word. These people do not have lots of money, they do not have the modern material possessions that we in the Western world take so much for granted, they do no own a car or even a motorcycle, and yet their lives are full and rich. They have had fewer choices in their lives than I have and yet they are more content than me. From such people, we have much to learn, the farmer in this story is a wise man, he has chosen to farm organically after careful consideration because he would and could never jeopardise his family their bread and butter. He is a good man, and I am privileged to call him a friend