By Amy Franklin | Founder & CEO
Dear Donors,
I hope this update finds you and your loved ones happy and healthy. Thank you for your continued support of Farms for Orphans, especially during these trying times. Despite the many obstacles we have faced due to the COVID-19 epidemic, we have remained steadfast in our mission and continued to grow our operations in Kinshasa – and beyond!
Our farm is rocking!
Our palm weevil larvae (PWL) farm is rocking! We have spent some time during COVID trying out new farming methods. They have been so successful that we had to quickly find a way to make room for the larvae that were hatching each day. We have begun freezing larvae, which are now being sold in grocery stores in Kinshasa! We weren’t sure if frozen PWL would be of interest to Kinshasa’s public, as they are typically sold live in open markets - but our frozen larvae have been flying off the shelves! Selling our farmed palm weevil larvae is one way for us to help finance and grow our orphanage programs.
We are growing!
Given our big increase in farming, we are outgrowing our little farm at the Congolese Health Ministry’s National Institute for Biomedical Research. We have plans to begin building additional farms at two universities in Kinshasa, which will give us additional training sites for our orphanage, women, and youth insect farmer programs, as well as allow us to provide more protein rich food to Kinshasa’s youth – and communities beyond.
Please stay tuned, as we will share more information on this in coming months.
A New Partnership
We are excited to announce a new partnership with The Wildlife Conservation Society! Founded in 1895, The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a nonprofit organization that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions, one of which is the Congo Basin.
DYK? The Congo Basin, 60% of which is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the world's second largest rainforest and a huge carbon sink, trapping carbon that could otherwise become CO2, the main cause of global warming. The Congo Basin is considered one of the most important centers of biological diversity on the planet, housing 1 out of every 5 species on Earth, including unique native species such as okapi, Grauer’s gorilla, bonobo and the Congo Peacok.
The hunting of wildlife for human consumption (“bushmeat”) is a major threat to the Congo Basin’s biodiversity, yet bushmeat is the most important source of income and nutrition for rural populations - in fact, it accounts for up to 80% of the protein that people in Central Africa eat. Although hunting for wild protein has been practiced for millennia in the Congo Basin, an increasing human population, bushmeat trade from rural to urban areas, and the lack of any significant meat farming industry in the country have led to unsustainable levels of wildlife hunting. According to the Center for International Forestry Research, more than 6 million tons of bushmeat are taken from the Congo Basin each year.
Alternatives to eating bushmeat are obviously needed, but replacing the millions of tons of bushmeat consumed each year in the Congo Basin with more familiar livestock could be environmentally catastrophic. Raising beef, for example, would require farming on a scale similar to that seen in Brazil, where cattle ranching has been responsible for 60 to 70% of the deforestation in the Amazon basin.
Alternatives to bushmeat hunting and traditional livestock are sorely needed. Together, FFO and WCS are taking a two-pronged approach to addressing the matter:
Check out the links below for more information on WCS and bushmeat in the Congo.
Thank you, donors, for your continued support. We would not be able to support the youth (and adults) who need access to sustainable nutrition without your support. Your dedication to our programs makes it all happen!
Sincerely,
Dr. Amy Franklin
By Amy Franklin | Founder & CEO
By Amy Franklin | Founder & CEO
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