Harare, Zimbabwe (March 2026)

A group of 22 people participated in a tour that visited a few farms that were implementing farming practices of Foundations for Farming or Farming God's Way in cooperation with Crown Financial. We arrived at Johannesburg, South Africa, and we flew to Harare, Zimbabwe, the following day.

After our two tours ended in Tirana, Albania, I flew to Johannesburg, South Africa. After sleeping one night at an airport hotel, I joined a group of people organized by Crown Ministries to visit the sites of Foundations for Farming. 

The following day, we flew to Harare, Zimbabwe. The international airport in Harare was named after the former president, Mugabe. We loaded our luggage into two vehicles and headed to the lodging near the farming demonstration site, called the Champs. They have been practicing this farming for the past 40-plus years. Amazing!

The farming practice that was designed to help address the food insecurity problem in developing nations was called Pfumvudza. It is a national brand in Zimbabwe for this type of farming that Zimbabwe has adopted as a national policy and practice.

Pfumvudza is, in a nutshell, a farming practice implemented on a 1/16th hectare land where farmers grow 52 rows of sunflowers for cooking oil, 52 rows of maize, and 52 rows of sugar or soy beans, with each row providing a food supply for a family of six for a week. Another parcel of land of the same size was used to grow cover crops for mulching. This farming produces a harvest that is 4-8 times more than traditional farming. Farmers can manage a smaller plot better and use the remaining land for cash crops or animal farming. The farming practice was highly standardized, thus it can be easily implemented. The results were amazing and self-explanatory.

Many people came from all over the world to learn and implement in their own countries, including four delegates from Rwanda. They said that Rwanda also adopted this farming practice as a national policy, particularly for potato farming. Bridge 2 Rwanda, led by Dale Dawson, was implementing this practice. 

Many farmers came out and shared their stories as testimonies. All stories were inspirational, and we all praised God, who initially designed farming practices to provide ample life for all. Unfortunately, this farming God's way has been distorted and tarnished by human sinfulness and foolishness. But we still can revert to God's way of farming to address chronic poverty in many nations. A team of the Champs people demonstrated the differences in results between the foolish way of farming and God's way of farming. Mulching was a key element to preserving the soil. 

The team also demonstrated the use of drones to map the farmland and the crops growing on the farmland to collect data. and analyze them for more effective management. 

The gathered people honored a special couple who started this practice and ministry 40 years ago: Brian and Cathy. They looked like they were in their late 80's or early 90's. We thanked God for them and their vision.

 I am not a farmer, thus ignorant of agricultural practices. My goal was to learn and get familiar with agricultural practices, enough to converse and understand conversations made in the Dutch Nature board meetings. Also, I hoped to be able to learn more about how to apply good farming practices in world missions since unreached nations are heavily engaged in agriculture. Lord, teach me and show me the way to go in advancing Your Kingdom in these nations! - Jeffrey