A Bountiful Banana Harvest

Now, Surji and Rupa have hope for their future despite the challenges they have faced

September 24, 2021

After decades of hard work, Surji Paharin and her husband Rupa didn't know what the next year of farming might look like.

Surji Paharin and her husband Rupa have lived on their small plot of land in the village of Loharbani for decades. Together, they’ve worked hard to grow enough food and provide for their children, two of whom are married and have moved away to neighbouring villages.

Their worn tools and weathered skin are proof that life on the land has not been easy. At sixty years old, Surji was struggling to keep up with the hard work of growing crops in the rocky soil. Each year the rainy season was becoming shorter and the soil was becoming harder to cultivate. The COVID-19 pandemic added extra challenges like trade restrictions and health risks.

Surji was growing worried. Would she be able to provide her youngest daughter who still lived at home? Would the family have enough money to get by if their harvest failed?

One day while visiting with her neighbours, Surji heard about a new farming program offered by EFICOR, Tearfund’s local partner. Surji’s neighbours told her that the program was supposed to help double, even triple crop yields! Surji signed up in hopes of learning how to improve her crop yields despite her age and the state of her land.

At the workshop, Surji learned about conservation agriculture and other innovative farming methods that help improve crop yields despite the challenges of drought and a changing climate. EFICOR even provided small fruit trees to Surji and Rupa to grow behind their home.

The couple worked hard to tend to their trees using the new farming methods they learned, and two of the banana trees the couple planted quickly produced a bountiful harvest! Surji was able to sell most of the fruit at the local market and gave the rest away for her friends and family.

Surji is excited to keep tending her to her trees and is in the process of planting more saplings. Although the work can still be tough, the harvests have been bountiful! Surji and Rupa have hope for their future despite the challenges they have faced.

Supporters like you are providing life-changing training to families like Surji and Rupa. Your gifts ensure our local partners have enough resources to train villages in conservation agriculture.

Your gifts aren’t providing handouts—they’re allowing women and men like Surji and Rupa to learn new skills to lift themselves out of extreme poverty for good.

You can give families a future without hunger and extreme poverty.

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The solution to poverty is spiritual as much as it is physical. Instead of offering handouts, you will be partnering with local churches to permanently lift families out of poverty. Will you join us?

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