Mexico
Juan Manuel Martinez, Director of ECOPOL,
sent us a report on one of his stops during his
trip to Ecuador in June last year:
During my last day in Quito I
visited the children’s boarding school, Yachay
Washi. In Quechua, this means house of wisdom. The
garden is really beautiful and the best thing is
that everybody knows that it was created with the
principles of the Biointensive method. They know
the double-digging technique, the importance of
compost, how to build seedbeds and plant seedlings,
and the names of all the crops and medicinal herbs.
They also explained to me how to control diseases
and insects: they bury some small jars with a little
water and brown sugar in the beds. Attracted by
the sweet smell, a lot of insects are trapped, particularly
coleopterans. Since the garden is very small (6
beds) and they need a lot of food, I told them about
the Norogachi effect. [This refers to a boarding
school in the Tarahumara Sierra in Mexico, where
Biointensive techniques were taught to indigenous
children. When they went home on the weekends, they
taught their parents, and so more food was available.]
They loved it and asked me some questions about
the Tarahumaras.
Laura, a teacher for 60 boys and
girls, told us that those boarding schools had been
created because those kids [indigenous] are discriminated
against in ordinary schools and when they arrive
there they are suffering the effects of institutional,
social and family mistreatment. In those schools
they teach them to appreciate their roots, culture,
grandparents and environment. They call Mother Nature
"Pacha Mama" and they call the soil "Alpa
Mama." In accordance with the Andean view of
the world they love trees; they hug them, talk to
them and when they are sad they go to them in order
to be comforted. One of the grandparents told me
about an Andean prophecy that says that in 500 years
(these times) human beings of different color skin
and race will unite to renew the world. It was a
visit that made me feel full of spirituality and
energy.
In another report, Juan wrote:
Urcuqui is a county in Ecuador whose mayor is really
into the Biointensive method. During my last visit
he requested help to turn his county into the first
one in Ecuador in which all its towns use the method.
The good news is that he already gave Mercedes two
hectares with water and a fence, a house for the
promoters and a workshop with sewing machines to
install a school for the natives of the area.
Kenya
Sandra Mardigian, Director of Kilili
Self Help Project, which funds GROW BIOINTENSIVE
training for farmers in Kenya, sent us this report.
It is a summary of a report submitted to Kilili
Self Help Project by Baldas K. Murambakania and
James Wafula Nyongesa:
Kilili Self Help Project’s
trainers qualify by graduating in good standing
from a two-year course in the GROW BIOINTENSIVE
method at Manor House Agricultural Centre (MHAC).
Baldas Murambakania graduated in 2000 and returned
to his home in Lugulu, a place completely isolated
from any Biointensive influence.
Baldas’ first step was
to create a Biointensive demonstration site with
50 composted, double-dug beds and 15 different crops.
Next, Baldas recruited eight local self-help groups
with 540 farmers to organize under his umbrella
organization, Integrated Rural Community Empowerment
Programme (IRCEP), with the slogan, "Bye to
Hunger", and the goal of "empowering small-holder
farmers with sound agricultural skills, hence helping
to address food insecurity and income generation."
Baldas’ next step was to
conduct a survey, which determined that most of
the 540 IRCEP farmers’ families could not
afford to grow enough food for three meals per day
because of fertilizer and other artificial input
costs. In economic terms, their family income amounted
to less than zero. Baldas encouraged James Wafula
Nyongesa to attend Manor House Agricultural Centre.
James graduated in 2003, and IRCEP’s Biointensive
trainers became a team of two.
From 2001 through 2004, Baldas
and James trained a total of 300 farmers from the
groups under IRCEP’s umbrella. In 2005, all
remaining members "demanded Biointensive training",
and Baldas’ original goal to train every one
of the 540 members was attained. Moreover, the 540
trained farmers had trained other farmers, especially
other members of their families. When Baldas and
James held an open house at their demonstration
site, 800 farmers attended.
Baldas and James conducted a
follow-up survey in 2005. Findings were dramatic.
The farmers were now providing three nutritious
meals a day for their families and generating, on
average, $30/month in income from excess crops sold
at market. "An interview with the area administration
chief revealed a decrease in rural to urban migration
in search of jobs for the past 1-1/2 years. Also
there is a drastic drop in local brewing of illegal
drinks such as ‘chang aa’ by most women
because of the introduction of sustainable GROW
BIOINTENSIVE methods to subsidize their income and
food for their family."
Kilili Self Help Project is located
at 260 Marion Avenue, Mill Valley CA 94941; phone:
(415) 380-0687;burckintl@aol.com.
This organization works at the grassroots level
to help poor rural farmers in Kenya gain food security.
Donations are gratefully accepted and all are channeled
to this worthwhile work.
Afghanistan
We received a report from Naqibullah
Salik, Director of the Afghan Organic Agriculture
Training Center in Kabul. He believes that the Center
is one of the most important projects in the country
because 95% of the people live below the poverty
line, 90% of the people don’t have access
to healthy food, and most farmers can’t produce
healthy food.
Their accomplishments for last
year: they improved soil fertility; gave three courses
for Kabul, Logar and Ministry of Agriculture employees;
gave two composting courses for Badam Bagh and Research
Institute staff, and established an irrigation system
for the project. The yields from the project were
two times greater than the average yield in Afghanistan.
This was particularly notable since the soil was
in very bad condition with less than 1% organic
matter and a pH of about 8.5. They also do not have
access to good-quality seeds. |