The 29th annual Beef Barbeque sponsored by Farmers Helping Farmers (FHF) will be held Saturday, August 10, 2013 from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Harrington Research Farm, civic # 1200 Brackley Point Road. The barbecue includes steak, all-you-can-eat salads, new potatoes and yellow beans, rolls, and strawberry shortcake. Proceeds from the meal and sale of African crafts will be used to aid farm families in Kenya.
Over the past three years, FHF has been working towards providing 25 screen houses with drip irrigation to small groupings of farm families in the Marega and Kiirua communities. The project has provided local families with access to quality food and increased the capacity of the farm women to grow more diversified and drought-tolerant crops. Another FHF project is focused on providing pitchforks to farmers who are composting waste plant material to be used as soil amendments and for the harvesting of crops. Information on these project and others can be accessed at www.farmershelpingfarmers.ca.
The organization is excited to have as guests at this year’s barbeque Ms. Salome Ntinyari and Douglas Gikundi M’Muguna. The two work on the Farmers Helping Farmers screen house project in the very dry Meru region of Kenya. Mr. M’Muguna is a trained horticulturist who provides technical advice on the production of vegetables to the 100 women who belong to the Muchui Women’s Group; while Ms. Ntinyari is developing a marketing plan for the vegetables produced.
Farmers Helping Farmers is a Prince Edward Island based organization committed to undertaking development initiatives to improve the lives of farm families in Kenya. Its membership includes farmers, academics, and others with a wide variety of interests and with expertise in rural development, crop production, animal husbandry, and processing/marketing crops and dairy products. The philosophy of FHF is to develop projects put forward by the East African farmers and give them the support needed to implement the projects. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) provides matching funding for some of the FHF projects.
Tickets are $30/adult and $10/child and are available at the Riverview Market and the Queen Street Coop in Charlottetown. Tickets can also be purchased by phoning 393-8663.