“As for me and my family, we have said ‘Good-bye’ to hunger!”
This is the amazing testimony of Marie Rose, which she shared little more than a year after her family suffered a tragedy where she and her husband, Pierre, were involved in a terrible accident which badly injured them both and caused Pierre to lose his leg, and with it the family’s income.
Marie Rose harvesting
Pierre had been a builder. Their lives had changed forever in a moment. Even with both of them working long days before the accident, they’d been struggling to provide for their family. How would they survive now?
PIerre helps with harvesting
Desperate, and with 5 children to feed, Marie Rose took it upon herself to find a way to feed her family and earn an income. She’d noticed some farmers near where she lived, growing maize and beans. Their crops stood out from the crops around them. They looked healthier and so different to those around. Intrigued, she went to find out more.
Trainees weeding their crops
She discovered a group of trainees learning ‘Foundations for Farming’ and asked if she could join in the training. She was welcomed in and immediately began to learn this way of farming, pioneered in Zimbabwe, but which is new in Burundi. She quickly discovered that it results in yields which are far greater than what’s normal in Burundi. She knew it had the potential to feed her family and that it could be the answer she’d been searching for.
She quickly discovered … yields which are far greater than what’s normal in Burundi.
Trainees at work with maize and beans
Marie Rose immediately set about implementing Foundations for Farming on a small piece of land near where she lived. By the end of the first season, just from this small plot she discovered to her amazement (and that of those around her!) that she’d be able to feed her entire family for several months from this one harvest alone. She now knew how she’d be able to feed her family not just that season but in the future too. Of all the challenges her family still faced, hunger was no longer one of them!
Marie Rose with her small plot by her home
Marie Rose very quickly became a passionate advocate for Foundations for Farming and her crops continued to be the talk of the area, so much so that she was invited to train to become an FfF trainer herself. In 2019 she completed the trainer’s training and graduated along with several other new trainers. Ever since, she’s been successfully training and inspiring others in her community.
Graduation of FfF trainers
Their crops have attracted a lot of attention from onlookers, including some agronomists even, who have been eager to learn how she’s getting such abundant harvests. Many are now asking if they can also learn Foundations for Farming, so that they too can say ‘Good-bye’ to hunger!
Marie Rose with ladies she’s trained
Could you help a family out of poverty by funding them to start learning Foundations for Farming?
- £15 provides a trainee farmer with a training manual for Foundations for Farming.
- £25 a month funds a farmer to be trained in Foundations for Farming, over the period of one year. It also provides them with a plot of rented land and the seed and equipment needed for them to feed their family for a year at the end of their training.
- A one-off donation of £55 can rent a piece of land 16m x 39m, known as a Pfumvudza plot, which is the size needed by a family for them to feed themselves for an entire year when implementing Foundations for Farming faithfully.
- A one-off donation of £120 can provide a trained farmer with a ‘Pfumvudza Pack’ containing all the seeds and equipment needed to get started. Your donation will also cover the rent of a pfumvudza plot.
