The rains have begun

It’s starting to rain – after a few weeks of really dry and hot weather. It’s still fairly warm and occasionally humid, since the rains usually don’t come until late in the day. And then they are often torrential.

This means that many farmers will want to begin planting. But one major problem is access to land. Many don’t have land and so must rent any land they want to sue for the basic subsistence crops of corn and beans. And sometimes, if they do manage to rent land, they end up promising a certain amount of the harvest, of course at a low price.

It’s a vicious cycle – rent land, pay landowner, buy fertilizers and other inputs, harvest, sell the harvest at a low price, and, when corn and beans run out, buy them at about twice the price that you sold them for.

There’s a real need for serious development for small farmers. Padre Efraín has a request out for funding for a project in his parish and we hope to be able to find some sources of funding for Caritas projects throughout the diocese.

In a world of plenty, it is a shame – and a sin – that farmers don’t have enough to eat.
Something must change.