A team from AgriStewards of Lebanon, Ind., made its annual spring trip to Kenya in March to assist with the farming operations at Missions of Hope International‘s (MOHI) Girls’ School at Joska and Boys’ School at Ndvoini.

Brian Smith of AgriStewards, which has been working at Joska since January 2011, and Karen Thompson, Senior Research Associate for Pioneer, were once again encouraged by the progress they saw.

“This was my fourth trip to Joska and it was all about healthy-looking spinach and kale, as well as deliciously sweet melons and giant sweet potatoes,” said Karen. “I love looking at data and on this trip we got to see quantitative results!”

Cosmas Katana, the new farm manager, compiled the farm production records for July through December and provided them for the AgriStewards team to evaluate.

“How many crates of tomatoes, bags of kale, spinach and sweet potatoes – each number was proof of God’s blessings on the farm,” said Karen. “On the previous trip we measured out the size of each plot, so using all this information will help Cosmas and the team plan for the future. This doesn’t sound exciting to most, but it will affect the future of the farm.”

Farming God’s Way

Team leader Brian Smith was excited to have two opportunities on this trip to teach the “Farming God’s Way” lessons to new audiences.

“The first opportunity was near Eldoret, with nearly 30 farmers attending,” he said. “This area had some larger farms, ranging from three to 15 acres and using some mechanization. Many had three to five dairy cows, but (the farmers) had no idea of the value of their manure and were purchasing chemical fertilizers!”

Brian led a second training at the Sunshine Church near the Joska Girls’ School.

“Many of the local farmers had taken notice of the crops grown at the school and were anxious to learn this new farming technique,” said Brian. “This area of Kenya is very dry, and so they are very dependent on a good layer of mulch to conserve moisture. We had a wonderful group of participants.”

Great progress

The team left MOHI more excited than ever before with the progress at the farms.

“Joska is finally performing at a high level of production,” said Brian. “John and Cosmas have done an excellent job applying what they have learned. We focused our efforts this trip on bringing Ndvoini Boys’ School farm up to the same level of production as the girls’ school and discussed ways of educating the students in FGW and how we can integrate them into some projects.

“And we drove nearly 50 miles to Machokos to purchase some items and never saw any crops better than what is being produced on the MOHI farms,” he added. “We give God all the glory!”