Bangladesh (MNN) — The food crisis in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is at an alarming stage.
The rat population is out of control due to the fifty-year bamboo flowering and seed production, and this has greatly impacted food crops. So has the flooding of rice fields in the rest of the country, making the situation worse than ever before.
The FARMS loan provides a way for the neediest people to grow orchards of mangos, oranges, and bananas, as well as producing paddy and other grains. The loan allows the disadvantaged members of local area churches to recover mortgaged land and generate income from raising animals. Before giving the loan, FARMS consults and trains farmers who cultivate gardens and do other projects.
"Last year I was able to repay my loans from the papaya I sold," says Hathiram Tripura, a farmer who benefited from the FARMS loan program. "Before my loan, I was depending on slash and burn agriculture. But now, my project gives me hope."
Tripura also expresses his thanks to FARMS International and its donors, and gives a tenth of the profits he earns from these crops regularly as tithe.
This program is run among the people who are in adverse situations due to geographical and socio-economic circumstances. These people couldn't grow fields or orchards, or do many of the things that they're able to now, if not for the FARMS loan program. The FARMS program strengthens local churches every year through tithing and contributes to advancing their spiritual and economical conditions.
