New 90kg Rice Challenge Packs for Churches

JTS are delighted to announce the launch of the new resource pack for Churches to support the 90kg Rice Challenge.

Fair trade is a Christian response to a generous God who calls us to love our neighbours, to care for our planet and share its rich gifts equitably. The 90kg Rice Challenge is the perfect activity to get your congregation thinking about fair trade and global justice in a practical way. It’s incredibly easy to take part and this pack provides guidance and case studies to help you get started. Churches throughout the UK have taken part, with over a hundred participating in the last year alone.

Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries and less than 1 in 4 children are able to attend secondary school. 90kg is the amount of rice a farmer in Malawi needs to sell to enable him to send a child to secondary school for a year so your congregation can directly see that their buying decisions are helping provide a better life for those in some of the poorest communities in Malawi. It is a very visual and easy to understand concept which people who don’t know about fair trade can understand and feel part of.

For the last ten years JTS has been working with rice farmers in Northern Malawi. In that time, we have been fortunate to develop a very close partnership with them, a partnership that has made such a difference to the lives of farmers in Karonga. We are helping them combat the effects of climate change. The fertility of their seed has improved; they have more access to ox-carts and ploughs. Yields are improving. Wells are being dug to irrigate the fields. More children are going to school and then on to college and university, something rarely heard of before.

We want to celebrate this partnership as something that helps to bring justice and hope to smallholder farmers in Africa; and as something which inspires people here to work with the farmers for long-term solutions to their problems.

Taking part in the challenge is an opportunity for everyone in your church to shape the future of this partnership. Doing the 90 kg challenge is recognised by the Fairtrade Foundation as a contribution to Fairtrade Church status.

Simply by making changes to the way we buy food; fair trade can help to transform the lives of some of the world’s poorest people and you can be part of it!

“By simply buying a bag of rice we can all make a huge difference by helping to unlock the potential of people and communities and tackle inequality in Malawi and elsewhere”. – Reverend Canon Prof John Riches, Chairman of JTS

“As the network representing the 94,000 Scots actively involved in Malawi links, we’re delighted to support the work of JTS in bringing this fairly traded Malawian rice to Scotland. Not only does it taste great but it also provides much needed opportunities for sustainable livelihoods for thousands of small holder formers in Malawi." – David Hope Jones OBE (Scotland Malawi Partnership)

For further information, please contact Nicola on 0141 255 0901 or email nicola@jts.co.uk