Partner with a farmer in Lomolo today. Just £10 a month will change the lives of a farmer and his family by providing them with the resources and support needed to farm their land.

Give £10 a month

When Wilco and Lydia left South Africa 20 years ago they had no idea of the journey and adventure that God would be taking them on.

We thank God for their love and ministry over the last two decades, and we are so excited about what God has in store for the future.

Over the last year, Lydia and Wilco have taken stock of the ministry that they have built and begun to refocus a number of ministries to ensure that they are truly in the centre of God's will for their lives. This has included the development of a new farming ministry. Locals in Lomolo A were displaced internally by local governments, and as part of the process, each family was given two acres of land. Many struggled to find the resources to farm this land as the initial costs are very high and the chances of a failed crop are high due to pests and erratic rainfall.

To this end, YASHA International ministries are partnering with the visible fund to provide initial costs for farming, including the provision of seed and fertiliser. This year they were able to give resources to 84 farmers to cover their whole land. However, due to a bad year of rainfall, many have lost most if not all of the crops that they planted. Each farmer should have received sufficient crop to provide for their family, as well as return a small percentage to be reinvested into other families. The sad effects of this years failed crop means that the return of investment is much below anticipated and will mean that we currently cannot support as many families next year as hoped.

However, all is not lost. Lydia and Wilco are still working hard with community members and community leaders to prepare the community for the coming year. This includes investing in training locals, looking at ways of decreasing the impact of lower rainfall, including irrigation. In addition, Wilco has been training local people in a programme called "farming God's way", which provides natural resources for securing the land. This is not straightforward, because again, the programme requires large amounts of mulch to coat the field and lock in the moisture, however, this is not easily available in the arid part of Kenya they live and therefore brings a premium. Therefore for this ministry to really take off, it needs to slowly transition the community by providing plans for local production of mulch which has limited benefit for the immediate, but a long-term benefit for sustainable agriculture.

This can at times seem disheartening, however, God is still speaking and is sharing His vision for sustainable agriculture in Lomolo A and the surrounding communities, and Wilco and Lydia are praying and listening hard. 

You can be a part of the answer to their prayers. We need people willing to partner with Lomolo A and invest in sustainable agriculture.

£10 a month will provide a farmer and his family access to training and resources in God's plan for sustainable agriculture.

£20 a month will provide a farmer and his family with access to high-quality mulch to invest in sustainable agriculture. Currently, farmers use all of the crops for various means, however part of the programme of farming God's way is to create a blanket to protect the soil and crops and to increase water retention in the soil from just 10% up to 94% meaning that even a small amount of water will have huge benefits for the crop planted. However, it will take up to 3 years for locals to be able to provide a blanket from their own fields whilst having sufficient to survive.

£1000 will provide an irrigation system for one farmer and their family.