“Giving Poverty the Boot”

Some of you have asked for more information about “Giving Poverty the Boot” campaign by FARM-Africa which we are making central to Harvest Celebrations this year.

Well during the last 20 years there has been a chronic lack of investment in agriculture.  Yet over 80% of people living in remote or rural areas of Africa rely on the food they grow and the animals they keep to survive. Faced with harsh conditions and poor access to essential resources, subsistence agriculture can be a constant struggle.

FARM-Africa provides the training and support that poor rural communities need, to identify and implement appropriate solutions to many of the key problems they face.  Families are directly supported to help work themselves out of poverty through improved ways to manage their crops, livestock, forests and access to water.
"FARM-Africa can play an important role by being able to work at the local level, but with an eye on impacts at national or regional level. We need more of this kind of innovation and learning - finding out what works well and where. FARM-Africa is more strategic in their thinking that most small development organisations, in terms of how to get the maximum impact from a limited budget" Derek Byerlee, co-director of the World Development Report 2008.

FARM-Africa work with a wide range of small-scale farmers and herders through our country programmes in eastern Africa.

In Ethiopia, FARM-Africa is working to reduce poverty and raise the living standards of the country’s small-scale farmers and herders through improved management of their natural resources.

FARM-Africa helps rural Kenyans develop innovative ways to manage their natural resources and ensure they have a role in shaping the policies that affect their lives.

FARM-Africa is helping communities living in Southern Sudan to develop sustainable ways to earn a living based on livestock and agriculture.

Working with pastoralist and forest communities in northern Tanzania, FARM-Africa is helping to change policy and increase productivity.
FARM-Africa’s goal is to reduce poverty by helping rural Ugandans develop innovative ways of managing their natural resources.

FARM-Africa’s  work specialises in support for three groups of people:

1          More than 80% of rural Africans are smallholder farmers and most rely on less than an acre of land to support their families.
However, with access to the right tools, training and services such as animal healthcare, farmers can dramatically improve their economic position.
2          Many pastoralists live in harsh environments, reliant on rearing livestock to sell for food and other essentials. Frequent droughts and disease outbreaks make this way of life ever harder to sustain.
FARM-Africa helps pastoralist communities to form their own plans to improve their livelihoods, and access the finances to realise them.
3          Eastern Africa's natural forests are fast disappearing.  FARM-Africa is working with forest communities helping them to reduce their reliance on timber products to earn money and develop sustainable forest management plans.

So please come along and support our Harvest celebrations this year.

Alun