An Overview

Darfuris very much in the news these days. More than 300,000 have fled to Chad (though news reports vary from 150 to over 300 thousand). Another approximate million people are on the border ready to flee into Chad if the genocidal attacks approach them. Hundreds of villages have been razed to the ground with the inhabitants being either killed or fleeing to wherever they hope to find refuge. One humanitarian organization has reported that 10,000 are dying every month from either starvation or related diseases. It is a terrible situation.

The United Nations, through Life Line Sudan is flying food into the accessible areas, both in Chad and Darfur. Both north and south Darfur are a part of the "Official North" of Sudan. They are all Muslim, though there is a very small sprinkling of Christians among them. In other words, Arab Muslim Fundamentalists (Islamists) are killing nominal, black Muslims - for reasons very hard to understand, and as a diversion to try to sabotage the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with Southern Sudan.

Many Non- Government Agencies (NGOs) are working on emergency food. Cal Bombay Ministries is also involved in emergency feeding to a limited degree. A this point, there are dozens NGOs addressing the emergency feeding.

Cal Bombay Ministries Inc. is involved in a more long-range provision of food for the hungry in Southern Sudan. It is working with the highest level of leaders of the southern Sudan through a non-profit cooperative we have formed (the Savannah Farmers Cooperative Company) to address the establishing of farms for mass food production. The first seventeen farm tractors exclusively for farming to be introduced to southern Sudan have been in place for some time. This is unique in southern Sudan since the Independence of the whole of Sudan in 1956. (both north and south as one nation at this time) .

Sudan has a unique governmental structure. The National Islamic Front which controls the Government of Sudan (GOS) has signed Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with the southern forces which have resisted Islamisation and Arabisation of the south since 1956. It has been a long and bloody war, with more than 2,200,000 people in the south killed by either violent raids, manipulated famine, or real famine as a result of the war or weather.

Southern Sudan also has a government called the Government of Souther Sudan (GOSS). They have their own president, Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit. The President of the GOSS (of the south) also serves as a Vice-President of the GOS (of the north). A very fragile peace exists. Only a very few of the points of the agreement have been implemented by the north, thereby reducing the GOSS to civic poverty and manacled development.

In the south there is no functioning telephone system, and rarely any electricity in any of the cities, including the Capitol City of Juba. Internet access is limited to a few Internet Cafes, and most water sources or suspect. Recently a cholera epidemic stormed through the cities of Juba and Yei, killing hundreds.

The roads are abysmal. Some of the newly maintained roads deteriorate quickly because of over-loaded transport trucks hauling food and supplies into southern Sudan from Uganda. As a result, even the maintained roads degenerate within weeks. There are no paved roads in southern Sudan, except for about one mile of pavement, potholed badly, in the city of Juba.

It is into this milieu and against most difficult and dangerous threats into which the Savannah Farmers Cooperative has introduced mass mechanical farming. The threats come from various militias, including the “Lord’s Resistance Army” led by a crackpot from Uganda (Jospeh Kony), land-mines in un-expected places, and a population desperate for basic food.

The location of the SFC farms at this point are in the Yei and Kajokeji areas of Western Equatoria. These are: Morobu, Logobero, Moje and Romogi.

Some tractors have been donated to areas in Livolo, Torit and Mundri to provide food production in those areas. (Mass food production in these areas is anything larger than 20 acres of one crop) The machinery at these three locations will not be considered under the purvey of the SFC, but, if not used in the way designated (specifically for agriculture), it will all revert to the SFC to be re-assigned to a new area.

2) - We have a plan

Emergency feeding keeps people alive a day at a time. And that is essential!

Our plan, on the other hand, is to establish cooperative farms with the first mechanical farming to come into southern Sudan. The plan is long range. A “Food For The Long Haul” approach.

The Savannah Farmers Cooperatives Company has been formed to create and manage these farms. Large tracts of land will be plowed, disced, harrowed, and planted using tractors (small to start with).

Crops will then be sold by the SFC warehouse to Relief Organisations and local traders which will distribute the hungry. The income from the sales will be rolled back into the cooperative to grow more and larger crops, expanding the acreage being planted.

With the agreement with local leaders, including chiefs and civil authorities, the land made available to the cooperatives will be used for mass crop production. The tractors, together with drivers and equipment are being made available to local small farms which have cleared the land sufficiently for tractors to work and plant the soil. The local community farmer will pay a basic fee for the use of the tractor, driver, fuel etc.

It is estimated that the local private farmer, with the use of machinery and drivers from the SFC will be able to clear and plant four times as much land as he would have been able in the traditional method. This will allow him to both diversify, and to produce enough crop that he will be able to sell his excess through a marketing program being developed. This will provide him with some hard currency as well as food for survival.

The goal is to create such successful and productive farms through the SFC that they will be models which other organizations can replicate throughout the whole of southern Sudan.

3) - It’s not without set-backs :

In June and July of 2004, confidence began to grow that the Peace Talks would for the first time be productive. That, together with the knowledge that there have been much less military activity in the areas mentioned, have given some hope to refugees.

Around Kajokeji, approximately 7,000 civilian Sudanese remained during the worst years of conflict. They had planted and were reaping their crops. Within a period of four to eight weeks, 37,000 refugees returned to their traditional homes in the area. The food available from those who had planted was suddenly and totally depleted. The United Nations and others began to respond to the total lack of food security.

But the people were hungry, and HAD to have food. The Manager of the SFC farm in Romogi (near Kajokeji) had, among other crops, a new hybrid crop of fifty acres of cassava ready for harvest when he had to become involved in emergency feeding at the request of relief agencies who needed someone who knew the people, the area and the need.

While the manager was involved in emergency feeding, the acreage of cassava was discovered by returning refugees, and within a 36 to 48 hour period, the whole fifty acres was taken. Even the clippings were taken so that those who helped themselves to the cassava would be able to plant their own, on their own traditional land. That crop was worth about $25,000 ( US) which was a serious loss for the local SFC farm. It could otherwise have become self-sufficient that year.

In North America, action would have been taken to bring those who stole the cassava to justice. But, this organisation, being Christian, decided that Proverbs 6:30 would be our guide. It says:

“People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.”

After all, our reason for the farms was to feed the starving!

No one is deterred from this plan. They are still going to plant and reap as much as they can. The plan is still in place, and working!

And yes, we’ve faced fraud and corruption. Two farms were temporarily closed and the managers fired. As soon as proper courts are in place, they will be dealt with.

In Feb. 2006, our first Canadian farmer went to ‘re-open’ the Logobero Farm. Mr. Timothy Vander Kooi from Ontario faced an even more degenerated situation than I had envisioned. He basically had to start from scratch - and he did a great job getting ready for the planting season. He was followed by Mr. Vince Machacek, a retired farmer from Alberta. Vince demonstrated great ingenuity and patience as he introduced the most efficient use of the machinery at Logobero. Both these farmer are to be commended for their work against daunting odds, and making it happen in a much more efficient and productive manner.

The Executive of the Savannah Farmers Cooperative has asked Cal Bombay Ministries to find more farmers who would be willing to come and Manager/Teach on all the farms for a volunteer period of no less than three months. One at least on each farm is what is needed. Interested?

The plan is working, lamely at first, but more and more efficiently and productively. IT HAS TO WORK, otherwise starvation will continue for decades.