From 2012 through 2019, money earned through Sharing the Harvest goes to support The Center for Experimentation and Training in Agriculture (Centre d’Expérimentation et de Formation Agricole, CEFA). CEFA is located in the community of Gamboula in the Central African Republic.
CEFA
(Centre d’Expérimentation et de Formation Agricole – The Center for Experimentation and Training in Agriculture)
CEFA conducts agricultural research and extension relevant to small farmers who are food insecure. The trials new varieties of staple crops, vegetables, beans, fruits, animal husbandry, and fish culture in order to determine their suitability to local conditions. They introduce successful varieties to communities via farmer cooperatives and train farmers in sustainable farming techniques, animal rearing, and improved oil palm production and reach others via farmer-to-farmer extension throughout the large, under-served country.
CEFA’s work is supported by Covenant World Relief/ Growing Hope Globally and assisted by Covenant Missionaries Roy & Aleta Danforth.
Why This Project?
CEFA is committed to making a significant difference in the lives of farmers. Wiley Heights Covenant Church, where Sharing the Harvest originated, has a long history as a community of farmers and a commitment to mission. The relationship seems like a perfect one and it has been exciting to see what God is doing in the CAR.
CEFA is a place of hope in a beautiful country that has had its share of problems. The Central African Republic with a population of 4.4 million is currently ranked among the ten least developed countries in the world.1 Landlocked by Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, the story of the CAR has long been overshadowed by its neighbors. Approximately 35% of the population is food insecure and 7% of children under age five are severely malnourished. CAR has one of the highest mortality rates in the world, in some areas three times over the emergency threshold of one death per 10,000 inhabitants per day. The country also has the second lowest life expectancy in the world, at 48 years. In the Southwest of CAR, this situation is mainly attributed to an absence of basic healthcare provision and diets low in nutrition. In recent years they have faced internal warfare that has led to a rise in refugees and displaced people.
Meet the Farmers
Sharing the Harvest is a community of people who believe in the power of generosity and sharing. No one embodies that better than the farmers on both sides of the ocean who work to grow our food and better the communities they call home. Take some time and meet some of the farmers from the Central African Republic.
Women Getting Training
At CEFA project farms In the Central African Republic, women are trained along with the men. Here participants in a seminar tour the pilot plots to see how the various plants are grown.
Tropical Fruits are Researched
The pilot farms serve as a research center, not only for teaching but also to find varieties that will flourish in the Central African Republic’s tropical client.
Here the “Malay Water Apple” is grown.
Men Touring a Test Plot
Seeing is believing – when instructors take seminar students out to tour the test plots to see the wide variety of crops that they’re growing on the farm.
Practical knowledge and skills are imparted to help ensure the success of each farmer that goes through the program.
Durian, the King of all Fruits
Though native to Southeast Asia, the farms are testing out durian to find a variety that is suitable to the Central African Republic’s climate.
The durian has a strong “garbage-like” smell, but tastes like custard and is highly prized as a unique fruit around the world.