Every business, organization, or even individual reaches a point in their lifespan where they need to step back, evaluate, and re-organize. At JBFC, we had reached that point in our livestock and agriculture department last year, and we felt it was time to make some significant changes.
I should probably diverge for a minute, however, and talk about this department and why it is so important to the JBFC model. The first reason is that we at JBFC are constantly working towards self-sustainability. We hope, once all of our income-generating projects reach maturity, we will be able to provide for all of our operating expense in-country, allowing us to focus more of our budget on expansion and helping more children. A large part of these self-sustaining plans are reliant on our agriculture and livestock programs. However, this department also plays a big hand in life education for our children. By having our girls and students involved in learning how these projects are run, we are setting them up with invaluable skills to succeed later in life. We are showing them, by example, how to lead a sustainable life.
The first thing we have done, is to evaluate the various pieces of our farm, and looked to see which were the most productive. For instance, turkeys, pigs, and ducks are much more productive and profitable than milk cows and local chickens. So, as we looked at the business side of the farm, we realized a need to put more effort into those areas. Secondly, having struggled with the accountability of our workers in this department for some time, we figured it best to divide all of our workers, and put each one of them in charge of a different piece of the farm, creating an easy way to keep workers accountable.
We have only been trying this new system for a month, but it seems to be working. We have already seen tremendous improvement in the cleanliness of our farm, the livestock has begun to fatten up, and the vegetable garden is incredibly organized and weed-free! We are hoping this new system will continue to show improvements in the coming months while we continue to evaluate the different aspects of the farm and livestock ares, so that JBFC-Kitongo can move even closer to our self-sustainability goal!
