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Planting Seeds of Hope: Sponsor a Woman Farmer in Honor of Women’s History Month!

  • Amanda Whitmyer

on  March 5, 2025

Women worldwide are often the backbone of their families and communities, responsible for nurturing the health and well-being of many lives. Yet, in their selfless dedication, their own needs often go unnoticed. By ensuring women have access to the resources they need to thrive, we can spark a ripple of positive change that impacts everyone around them for generations ahead.

This Women’s History Month, you have the power to transform the lives of women across the globe, helping them flourish economically and ensuring their families and communities have access to nutritious food and fresh produce through agricultural initiatives like the Planting Seeds for Strong Communities project. In Gowke North, Zimbabwe, this initiative, in collaboration between Rise Against Hunger and ADRA, empowers women farmers like Jacquelyne and Siphiwe, who have gained valuable agricultural skills and learned how to produce cooking oil.

Two women farmers in Zimbabwe

Through this project, Jacquelyne has earned an income that supports her education, covers her children’s school fees and enhances her family’s well-being. Her inspiring journey has transformed her life and motivated other women in her community to embrace entrepreneurship. Siphiwe has also boosted her family’s income by selling cooking oil and sunflower by-products, paving the way for new opportunities. Her children now attend school, where they receive nutritious meals from Rise Against Hunger made with locally sourced ingredients.

To see this impact in action firsthand, watch this video and hear from Jacquelyne and Siphiwe about their journey toward food security, nutrition and education. To further this impact, join us in reaching our goal of sponsoring 100 women farmers in honor of Women’s History Month, helping us leave a lasting legacy in the communities we serve.

Imagine the difference you can make with just $1 a day. By sponsoring a woman farmer, you’re not only nourishing her family and community, but you’re also planting seeds of hope and empowerment. Will you stand with us to uplift women around the world? It starts with a meal®, and it starts with you!

About the Author

Amanda Whitmyer served as the Digital Marketing Specialist at Rise Against Hunger.

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.