For many years, the Society of the Good Shepherd has shied away from making agricultural loans. We made several such loans at the beginning of our ministry 24 years ago, and we soon realized that agricultural loans come with a greater risk than most other small business loans.
The first risk is the weather. If rains don’t fall at the right time, crops are severely affected. Furthermore, droughts and floods can easily destroy an entire crop. Second, there is the considerable market risk. Prices of farm produce fluctuate from year to year. The third risk is that most farming is done many miles from our base in Siguatepeque. It’s harder to maintain accountability with loan recipients when they live some distance away.
However, this year we were presented with an unusual opportunity to make an agricultural loan, and this time the Society felt that the risks involved were manageable. Oscar Lanza and his brother Brayan come from an agricultural family in the state of Olancho. Oscar married a young Christian lady from Siguatepeque, and that is where he and his family now live. Brayan still lives on the family land in Olancho.
Since they had been interested in carrying on the family tradition of farming, a few years ago Oscar and Brayan decided to obtain some training at the national agricultural college. Here, they learned many good agricultural practices, as well as the basics of managing a farm profitably. The two brothers presented the Society with an extremely well laid out business plan, by which they took into account the cost of irrigation, soil preparation, fuel, fertilizer, and the price of the watermelons they were hoping to grow.
Oscar and Brayan have been given a piece of family land containing a little over three acres. As I have said, they plan on growing watermelons on it. Of course, a three-acre farm will not be sufficient to support two families, so both brothers presently have supplemental jobs. However, perhaps in the future they will be able to acquire additional land.
The key to their plan for this watermelon farm is that their three acres contain an underground spring. However, to make use of the water, they realized it would be necessary to dig a well, fit it with a water pump, and lay irrigation tubing. Neither of the two brothers, nor their parents, had the funds to purchase a water pump and the tubing. So Oscar and his brother applied for a loan from the Society to purchase a water pump and sufficient irrigation lines to cover the entire acreage. The Society approved their loan.
Normally, the rainy season begins about May 1 in Honduras, but it looks like this year it won’t start until the end of May, at the earliest. This situation gives the two brothers an advantage, since they will not have to depend upon rainwater to grow their watermelons. The seeds for their first crop have already been planted, so their watermelons should reach the market ahead of most other farms.
According to their carefully worked out calculations, the watermelons produced on the first half of their land should cover all their expenses. The melons from the other half of the land should be all profit. At the same time, they know that unforeseen factors can arise. That is why they took on a manageable amount of debt.
The brothers were originally hoping that if they dug a sufficiently deep well close to the underground spring, they could directly pump water from the well to irrigate the land. However, the volume of water was not sufficient. So they excavated a reservoir, lined it with plastic, and pumped water into it. The reservoir will be continually replenished from the well, so it should provide a dependable supply of irrigation water.
If this watermelon project is successful, these enterprising brothers have other agricultural projects in mind that they would like to pursue in the future. They give heartfelt thanks to the brothers and sisters in the U.S. for making this opportunity available to them.
Julie Nyhoff de Valladares
The Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210 • (717) 349-7033
Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Honduras Donations
Chris
What if Christians or even just Anabaptists stopped trying to live the American dream and instead used God’s resources to train and encourage others to learn how to support themselves? I’m not saying just give it away or be careless with it, but use it to improve the lives of others around the world instead of increasing their own kingdom. I like what the Society of the Good Shepherd is doing.