Climate Change and Food Security – A Story Written by Mary
Minette, Director of Environmental Education and Advocacy,
andDavid Creech, Director for Hunger EducationEvangelical
Lutheran Church in America He will give rain for the seed with
which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground,
which will be rich and plenteous.- Isaiah 30:23 In the small
community of Las Jolotas, Nicaragua, subsistence farmers like
Felicita and her son Ariel are already facing the impacts of
climate change. Ever since Hurricane Mitch devastated western
Nicaragua in 1998, rainfall patterns have grown increasingly
unpredictable. Some years the rains fall late; other years the
rains fall too hard, and there is no way to predict what type of
year it will be. If the rains arrive late, seeds die without
producing any harvest. If the rains cause flooding, seeds are
swept away. Farmers in Las Jolotas traditionally save just
enough seeds from the previous harvest to plant during the next
rainy season. If those seeds are lost, t