Early Holiday Gifts from U.S.-Polish NGO Heifer Project International Highlights Food Security

11 December 2009

Child with one of his family’s black face sheep in Podkarpackie Region (Taken by U.S. photographer Darcy Kiefel, for Heifer International)

With the help of Arkansas-based NGO, the Heifer Project International, Polish farmers moved to assist poor rural families in Lithuania with the transfer of a flock of 120 sheep on Friday, December 11.   Polish farmers benefitted years ago with gifts of sheep from Heifer Project, and as a requirement of that grant, now “pass on the gift” by giving away some of the offspring to others.  This idea was born from the work of Heifer Project founder Dan West, who, in 1944, started the international NGO.  West, a farmer, realized that the way to beat rural poverty was to ensure that families had access to high quality farm animals, so that a family could start to earn their way towards food and financial security.   Farmers receive training in animal breeding, nutrition, and business with each gift. 

A delegation including Dr. Piotr Rucinski, American Embassy Warsaw’s Senior Agricultural Specialist, and Heifer Project Poland Country Director, Markus Tornberg, attended a ceremony on the Polish-Lithuanian border to “pass the gift.”   Tornberg said, “People think food comes from the supermarket, but farm animals that earn money for a family give the rural poor a doorway to food security and independence.  NGO’s have an important role to play to guarantee the growth of our food supply.”  Farmers will receive pedigree animals with proper, documented health and safety certificates.  Dr. Rucinski said, “Poland and Lithuania still have undernourished and poor rural families.  Grants of farm animals give the destitute hope for the future.”  

The movement by Polish farmers to begin to help their neighbors highlights how Heifer’s programs in Central Europe are ready to move across borders in this region.  The American Embassy Office of Agricultural Affairs in Warsaw has supported Heifer activities for decades.  Recently, the Embassy awarded Professor Henryk Jasiorowski, who introduced Heifer Intl to Poland, with a lifetime achievement award in 2008.  Embassy personnel are active in promoting Heifer International’s food security programs, such as its “Read to Feed” series of classroom lessons for youth and in its efforts to raise awareness about the importance of preserving biodiversity, and trying to focus greater attention on the need for governments and society to promote food security issues.   Heifer is active in more than fifty countries worldwide with its international headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas.