Where ashes once fell, life now grows
After implementing new farming techniques taught by Tearfund’s local partner, this family now harvest from fertile land.
Stepping away once again from their dried-up land, Goliya Pahadiya and his wife Jabri Pahadin went out in search of fertile soil to farm next.
As fire swept across and emptied out a new area for their crops to grow, Goliya and Pahadiya hoped that maybe this time the soil would not wash away in the rain, leaving nothing but sandy stones in its wake.
For the Malto tribe in India, farming has been done the same way for centuries. They would spend a few years farming one plot until the land’s nutrients had been used up; then, burn down a section of forest and move their farm there, so its ashes would provide fertilizer for new crops and weeds hadn’t had time to grow. This is called “slash and burn” farming. However, with the growing unpredictability of the climate, and the rising population, the land is no longer replenishing as it used to and there are fewer and fewer areas to move farms to. This way is no longer sustainable.
Goliya and Jabri, parents and grandparents, are farmers in the village of Jamkander, India. Tired from the constant restarting, Goliya was ready for something new. But what could he do? This was all he had ever known.
When Tearfund’s partner, EFICOR, introduced a new farming technique called Conservation Agriculture (CA) at the local church, Goliya was ready to jump in. He immediately went to work, implementing the various CA techniques—cover cropping, using organic material for mulch instead of burning it, crop rotation—and he was astonished by the results!
Not only did they yield 50% more than with traditional farming, but their plants were much larger and healthier, too. The rain no longer washed the soil away, but it remained fertile. Now, they could rest. This was transformation that they never dreamed was possible.
Goliya and Jabri are thankful to the church and to Tearfund for teaching them these new techniques. They are enthusiastic about continuing to learn more farming techniques, too!
This is not the only story like this—thousands of others are being trained in the same farming techniques, and seeing their harvest multiplied by numbers never imagined possible! Thanks to your generosity, churches across the world are helping to equip people to lift themselves out of poverty and reach their God-given potential.