What does small-scale farming have to do with peace and security.
Meet Margaret Wambui and her husband Leonard. Like many of the rural poor in the developing world, they have a small farm, a very small farm. 
Many of these farms are an acre or less. What hope is there of making a living on such a minute plot of ground? The farm has not been able to sustain them. There are too many hunger months in the year. Leonard has to find additional work. He found work in the Northeast, along the border with Somalia.
The Northeast of Kenya is more exposed to the activity of the Somali based terrorist group Al-Shabab. It is a high risk proposition to live there especially if you do not share their ideology. Al-Shabab in 2013 killed 67 people in Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, and then slaughtered another 120 at Garissa University, in Garissa, Kenya, singling out Christians. Twice Leonard was captured and twice he escaped.
In the mean time, his wife, Margaret, has received training in Conservation Agriculture (CA). By adopting and applying the practical principles of CA, their little farm is able to dramatically increase crop production. Now they had hope. We met Margaret and Leonard this past July. Their farm is beginning to prosper and they expressed confidence for their future. Food for the family, produce for market, reserves for next year, savings for a ‘non-rainy’ day, money for the children’s education, a family able to live together, work together and prosper together.
Peace and security grows when there is hope for the future and motivation to work to get ahead. Such conditions encourage people to embrace an ideology where peace, prosperity, hard work, family and community have their rightful place. It is for this reason that we, as a member house of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB), are thankful for the opportunity to encourage our Canadian government to return its international agricultural aid to former levels.
CFGB staff writes: You can also contribute to this [effort] by communicating with your Member of Parliament about this issue and how it is important to you. Write a letter or email, call your MP’s office or talk to your MP in person and pass on this important message. Learn more about the issue, and pray for this work, and for those working to improve their own food security. If you have any questions, or need some support, call us at 1-800-665-0377 or email cfgb@foodgrainsbank.ca
EMCC is one of the fifteen members of CFGB and is thankful for the effectiveness of CFGB in the commendable goal of ending global hunger.
By Phil Delsaut
President, Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada
