By: Apostle Steve Lyston

The globe has been taking serious hits in the area of agriculture. In Australia, the current fires have taken the lives of more than 1 billion animals either as a direct result of the fire or from related causes, such as starvation, dehydration or habitat loss. Furthermore, over than 2 million wild animals die in Bolivia wildfires and the damage is said to be irreversible. In Bolivia in particular, the fires have so far destroyed more than 4.9 million acres of forest in one of South America’s key regions for cat wildlife, which has the highest predicted density of cat species on the continent.

According to reports from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and The FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization), “Poorer countries with rising populations and scarce natural resources are likely to be “increasingly dependent” on imports to feed their people”

What is happening globally, coupled with the pending disasters that will undoubtedly affect Agriculture worldwide, lets us know that we are on the course of a famine, which would also trigger an economic recession. Farming and Agriculture should be the number one priority of any and every nation today – particularly for the African and Caribbean Regions. It therefore means that the country which controls food and food supply will become “king”. It is similar to what transpired in the Bible when Egypt became the food hub of the region and all nations, including Israel had to travel to Egypt to purchase food. Everything else became secondary. Not many will care about the stock market, tourism or gender rights when that happens, because when a man is hungry, when a person sees their children hungry, priorities are re-aligned.

Farmers in poorer countries have been getting terrible hits and most are turning away from the industry as there is little support for them. The FAO documented that 83 per cent of all drought-caused economic losses, that is $29 billion, were absorbed by agriculture. In addition to this, between 2005 and 2015 natural disasters cost the agricultural sectors of developing country economies a staggering $96 billion in damaged or lost crop and livestock production, $48 billion of which occurred in Asia. What could it be as of today?

Urgent Action Needed

Any country that deals with this crisis-level situation as a priority, and puts farming at the top of their list of strategies to employ, they will benefit significantly and save their nation from starvation. Nations must focus on two main areas of farming, commercial and subsistence.

Possible solutions include:

Land Freeze. Cease all divestment of land and building in certain areas; and instead farm those lands.

Build Warehouses for storage of food and other necessary items.

Grant cheap loans to Farmers to facilitate purchase of equipment and machinery for farming, livestock and the preservation of crops.

Encourage the poor to purchase deep freezers so they can store seafood, meats and vegetables.

Store water and ensure that storage in plastic containers is avoided.

Invest more in fresh water fish.

Poorer families must begin to plant all vegetables, melon, scallion, yams, corn and potatoes – not just for survival, but they must find ways to convert these items. For example, turning corn into cornmeal.

More people need to in rearing more goats, pigs and chickens. They must also find creative ways to preserve these meats.

Farmers must learn Biblical Principles for successful farming – the Law of Gleaning.

Dig more wells.

Faith

Famine, Farming and Faith are all connected. There cannot be successful farming if God is not in it. It is the oldest and foremost profession in the Bible. We must have faith in God that what He says we are to do in order to survive and be successful is what is needed and then do it. We have already seen the results of losing the sugar cane, banana industries and how other crops have succumbed to various diseases. In order not to fall into conspiracy theories as speculated, we must revert to our original fertilizers, rather then the modern ones. We must protect our soil. Furthermore, climate change has its place, but not as it has been presented to the public. We have the authority to create our environment.

Let us prepare.