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Ibrahima Coulibaly (left) from Mali and Vernon and Carol Sloan (right) from Ohio tell their stories below

I am a farmer from the village of Nangola, Mali, in West Africa. In Mali, 80 percent of the population work as farmers. In my own family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings—all have worked the land, contributing to the welfare of the village.

My own father took an administrative job in the city, to make a better life for our family. But I wanted to work on the land. I felt this work would allow me to give back to my country. So first I went to school to study agricultural practices. This is not something that many people in Mali have the opportunity to do. But I wanted to take what I learned back to my village, so all could benefit from this knowledge.

 I returned to Nangola and now grow corn and millet. I have orchards with mango trees and also raise livestock. I love the feeling of working the soil and watching new life grow, but it's a hard living. Farmers have difficulty selling our goods in our own country, because we cannot compete with the low prices of imported products from the United States and Europe, where the governments provide support to some of their farmers. I have seen how this hurts people in poverty. 

To educate other farmers about these global policies and their impact on West Africa, I work with ROPPA, a network of farmers spread from Senegal to Cameroon. We work to improve these farm policies as we are able to. I am grateful to hear that, through Bread for the World's Offering of Letters, Seeds of Change, you're doing the same in the United States. 

Therefore I'm asking you to be in solidarity with me and struggling farmers everywhere, to help create a just world in which each country and person can have an equal place.

I pray that this may be so.

Ibrahima Coulibaly
Nangola, Mali

In June 2006, Ibrahima Coulibaly (pictured in the photo above) came to Washington, DC, to particpate in the Africa Growth and Opportunty Act Forum on Capitol Hill.

Our family has been farming in northwest Ohio since 1835. We've been married 52 years and have raised five daughters and a son. We're fourth generation farmers, introducing the 5th and 6th. We grow corn, soybeans, wheat and we also have a couple of woodlots. Our farm is 450 acres, and we own about half of that. We've lived a very blessed life.

We've seen a lot of changes in farming, especially over the past 25 years. It's becoming harder and harder to make a living by farming. We've watched friends and family members forced to sell their farms. Our own son works an 8-hour a day job off the farm to support his family. His 16-year-old son is hoping to become a farmer, too. He's learning what it will take. He and his friends stayed up all night at the end of last year's harvest, to get the corn in the bins before the hard rain hit. 

Here's what else we've seen: The struggle is even more difficult for farmers in poor countries. Thanks to the Foods Resource Bank and the United Methodist Committee on Relief, we've traveled to Africa and Central America, meeting with farmers and hearing their stories. We've learned that we're competing with these farmers—something we didn't realize. Many of them can't sell their crops in their own countries, because the prices of certain crops have been lowered on the world market due to government cash payments.

We think it doesn't have to be that way. Our faith tells us we are all God's children. The U.S. farm bill can be made to better serve farmers and rural communities in this country, who truly need the help. But changes can also be made that don't harm farmers in poor countries. They just want to support their families—as we all do.

Please prayerfully consider writing to your member of Congress about the farm bill, through Bread for the World's Offering of Letters, Seeds of Change: Help Farmers. End Hunger. With God's help and your commitment, we can see a fairer harvest for all.

Vernon and Carol Sloan
Sloan Farm, Stryker, Ohio