The V-World Farm is a sustainable farm and permaculture project based on 338 hectares of arable land located near the village of Nyangezi, about 30 km South of Bukavu, approximately 20 km South of the City of Joy.
The farm is a lush expanse of land that, in so many ways, is an extension of the City of Joy. The agricultural, animal breeding and environmental protection training that women receive as participants at City of Joy is deeply enhanced by having access to the farm. The farm employs 182 workers including 105 men and 77 women (including 33 graduates of City of Joy). Together, they have transformed the farm since our team acquired the land and existing buildings, and brought it back to full working status.
The farm is a life-size classroom for women graduates, giving those who live there the opportunity to build on training they received at City of Joy to become exceptional leaders in the field of permaculture and community building. Similarly, the staff at the farm – who have now been through the farm’s expansion – are experts in their own right.
More than just a physical location and sustainable community, the V-World farm is seen as a metaphor for transformation, empowerment, environmental responsibility and indigenous rights. The guiding philosophy of the farm and City of Joy is: Pain to Power to Planting to Peace.
There is a deep, long-term vision that begins with the women and the farm and continues with the reintegration of women into their communities – to the very land that was the site of their violations – empowered with their own healing and skills in permaculture and agricultural business practices such as: food production, animal husbandry, sustainable agro-forestry, bee keeping, fish breeding, rice growing, and market gardening.
The V-World farm continues to thrive, with abundant crops and livestock. A living classroom for residents at City of Joy and a direct line for food supply, the farm is a successful example of sustainability and community growth.
V- World Farm Impact 2012–2020
1,402 Total Congolese Farm Jobs $1.6 million meals served 80,000 kilowatt hours of clean energy
201,106 kilos of Vegetables grown 67,477 kilos of Rice grown 11,814 kilos of Fish farmed
25,035 kilos of Livestock harvested 3,444 kilos of Wood sustainably harvested
204 kilos of Honey produced 146,348 kilos of Fruit harvested
