help fight hunger and poverty through better farming practises

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself Here' started by [email protected], Oct 7, 2010.

  1. henryachoroi@yahoo.com

    [email protected] Junior Member

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    On one acre of land eight of us pooled some funds to start;
    a)a piggery project;two pigs one male and female started the project the sow is about to litter and mor females have been added unto flock
    b)fruit growing project;mangoes,oranges,pawpaws,ovacados,bananas,gnavas are making one year.these are the exotic breed expected to yield after a two years.
    c)exotic diary cow;on zero grazing,we constructed a shed,planted the napier grass and a government project offered us a cow where at birth the offspring is passed to any of the eight founder members.
    d)manure project:from the wastes from the pigs and cow manure is made to boost productivity of the land.
    future plans;
    a)pass piglets and improved seedlings to founder members and later to other members in the community.
    b)start poultry project.
    c)biogas production project.
    aims of the project;
    a)improve on household;
    *income.
    *food security.
    which are major problems faced in the area which has a problem of food security and low incomes because the soils have lost fertility due to constant usage, decline in acreage due increasing population and poor animals and crop breeds kept by the households.
    i request for guidance how our community intiative called mbulamuti community centre can be helped to;
    a)train farmers in better farming practises.
    a)build the capacity of founder members to train farmers.
    c)moblise funds to avail comunity with better animal and plant breed.
     
  2. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Which part of the world are you in Henry? That will help us to give advice.
    Can you tell me what zero grazing means? Does that mean that your cows are kept in pens and you bring all their feed to them?
     
  3. henryachoroi@yahoo.com

    [email protected] Junior Member

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    location of mbulamuti community centre

    the project to fight hunger and poverty is located in Uganda,eastern region in the district of kamuli,buzaaya county mbulamuti subcounty in a village called budhamuli.
    zero grazing as used in the previous communication meant that the cow is kept in a pen or call it a cowshed.this is a departure from the primitive system used in the area of tethering on a rope or cattle herding where the cows are taken the communal grazing lands which are mainly swamps
     
  4. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Thanks Henry. I hope some of the experienced permies who are used to working on a large scale chime in. I'm working on just my own back yard - no piggies for me. Just chooks. What you are doing sounds like a great start though. Are there specific problems that you are finding that we could help you answer?
     
  5. henryachoroi@yahoo.com

    [email protected] Junior Member

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    challenges faced by mbulamuti community centre community center

    i developed the idea of a demonstration or model farm having visited one of the modern mixed farm,i swing in action trying to find friends in my locality,a place faced by hunger and poverty as result of declining acreage ,poor farming practices and poor animal and plant breeds.
    the idea was appreciated but the issue of contributing some funds to set up the demonstration scared away many prospective members due to the poverty level experienced here.so i never wanted the idea to die so i encouraged members who could to contribute building materials like sand ,stones,thatching grass,poles,labour.that we used to construct the pig sty and the cowshed.the money contribution was used to buy the exotic breed piglets,animal feeds,and the hybrid and fast growing fruit seedlings.
    poverty alleviation project a government project came to our rescue recently by giving us an exotic diary cow,it was a real blessing because we had failed for about two years to raise that amount required to purchase one yet we had the pastures already.
    the challenges to today are;
    a)lack of funds to purchase; animal feeds,drugs,food supplements,pesticides etc
    b)lack of technical know because none of us is professional in this agricultural field so we tour other farms and try learn from them.
    c)there is need for a full time worker because the system currently is rotational work among the founder members who also have other responsibilities
    d)for piglets to reach out to community members very fast the number of sows should be bigger to cause an impact immediately.
    e)in future we will need to form a co_operative society to help in marketing and getting good price bargains for the community to avoid middlemen who exploit the peasants.
    f)need to provide the peasants with agricultural inputs like hand hoes,drugs,pesticides ,sprays etc
    All in all the way things are today the community is appreciative and excitement is high ,they are visiting the centre and coping some of the practices used in their own gardens.
     
  6. meher

    meher Junior Member

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    i am currently working on my back and front yard.. its a pretty tedious job cuz i have got a really hectic schedule.. but yeah i believe that hardwork always pays..
     
  7. henryachoroi@yahoo.com

    [email protected] Junior Member

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    thanks for the response and encouragment

    hi thanks for the message. it encourages me more ,when members read a bit of what i am doing at the moment.its challenging equally for me because i am a professional teacher so i have just the evenings and weekend for the centre work.
    i trust with the encouragement, criticisms and guidance from members the fight to improve the quality of peoples lives shall be won,when food security and household incomes improve.
    what do you do in you back and front yard.
     
  8. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Hi Henry, welcome to the forum.

    It would be nice if you could write a regular diary in the members forum. It might help us to help you more. Ask us lots of specific questions on the forum.

    btw permaculture farmers - permies - tend not to encourage the use of pesticides and insecticides. We think its bad for the environment and bad for human health. We try to find natural methods to manage these problems and permit small amounts of losses due to insects.

    Personally i am not keen on the idea of keeping a cow permanently locked up in a shed. What are you using the cow for? Is it just for breeding? I tend to think the traditional methods of farming with cows might be more humane than the shed version. Is it that you haven't got enough land to let your cow out of the shed?

    I'd be surprised if you were able to raise any funds from this forum but you could get lots of advice if you keep asking questions about any of the problems that arise or things you want to try out.

    Ive got ducks and chickens and think they are great to have roaming around my property fertilising the soil and feeding on the insects. I hope you can get some soon. The eggs are an added bonus.

    Tell us something about the other members. How much land do they have? What are they growing and what animals do they already have?

    Are you in a high rainfall area? Are you at elevation? or at sea level?

    Good luck with your project.
     
  9. henryachoroi@yahoo.com

    [email protected] Junior Member

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    farming minus chemicals

    As previous i informed you of the activities we are involved in
    a)piggery
    b)fruit growing
    c)diary keeping
    producing with out usage fertilizers ,herbicides could be more profitable and it could help in the fight against poverty so am excited and seek assistance on
    the main challenges we are faced thing
    a) de worming pigs or keep the pigs away from infection by the worms
    b)ticks are a major challenge how to we avoid spraying and the tick-borne diseases are great killers here.
    c)how can we handle the pests attacking the fruit plants.
    we so much appreciate the idea of keeping of animals on free range especially for our diary cow but unfortunately this area has over population is being experienced so the land avalable to each household is so limited to cater for the food and income needs.
    i remain awaiting for guidance from permaculturist out there
     
  10. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    Occupation:
    Farm manager/ educator
    Location:
    Hunter Valley New South Wales
    Home Page:
    Climate:
    warm temperate - some frost - changing every year
    Some thoughts from me Henry
    1. Worming for our cows happens two days before the full moon when we feed them some cider vinegar and garlic in a bran mash. This will dispel the worms and the trick is to break the life cycle of the worm by not letting the pig near that expleeled worm for several months so there can be no new worms born and re-infest. We do this with cell grazing but also cleanliness would work.
    2. Ticks can be obliterated in an area by keeping Guinea fowl. They can be a little noisey but are great little creatures - very self contained and self reliant.
    3. Pest attack can be difficult but the process you need to look at s the health of the soil and the health of the plant as healthy plants will best avoid attach from pests. Things you can try include spraying the plants with a dilution of molassas. This can have the effect of dehydrating chewing pests. NIMBY sprays of garlic and chilli will often discourage pests.

    It is not always easy for me to appreciate the conditions you may need to work with in another country but stock rotation or extreme cleanliness and good food and water will be important in the health and productivity of your animals.
     
  11. paradisi

    paradisi Junior Member

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    Im on a bananas forum where the people in charge run a map of where people are - you can advertise your location if you want to

    makes contacting people near by if you need help or advice

    Im saying this because Im sure we have people in Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi - the climate is similar so they would be good to get in touch wiht

    trouble is I can't remember names

    the banana.org site uses vbgooglemapme - might be worth looking into admin :)

    you get tp see the persons name and can private message them straight from the map - some even have external contact details
     
  12. Fernando Pessoa

    Fernando Pessoa Junior Member

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    Henry let me suggest that you start writing articles for Permaculture>ORG website they pay money.You could do a series on how to transform 1 acre of land for the poor.They pay for each article.The amount of money is small,but helpful.
    https://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html look in the small farms section,this is an excellent online library resource.
    Plenty of great bio digester plans and appropriate technology.
    If you send me your address I will send you some seeds for trees so you can feed your cow.
    Henry do you have Cassava growing?
    Your cow will be need to be checked for ticks every day around the ears and the soft parts.Because the cow is in a shed she is less likely to pick them up outside,so if the shed is very clean with good ventilation and light just hand pick these ticks.With worms cassava fodder is helpful in reducing intestinal worms and if combined with wormwood(Artemisia absinthium) and I have read diamateous earth is useful.
    Best Wishes Fernando
     
  13. henryachoroi@yahoo.com

    [email protected] Junior Member

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    hi Ferando,
    thanks for the message sent to me,about writing items for permaculture for fee how can i do that.i am not an expert in agriculture field but i have learnt from many farms i have visited and tried out their practise on the one acre.
    my main motivation is to fight hunger and poverty in my community where the acreage for each family is about one acre or less
    my addresss is Achoroi henry
    buzaya secondary school
    p.o box 356 kamuli uganda
    i will be most grateful for the seeds for the trees that can feed our cow that is in calf.cassava does well in my environment because it is also our staple food only that planting materials are far and expensive because of a cassava mosaic disease that was recently experienced here.
    thanks for the advise on how to manange the ticks we are going to look at cleanilness of the cowshed with special care because it will help cut costs that could be used for spraying and reduction of worms using the combination of cassava and artemisia absinthium (hopeful i get to know it soon).
    we can also take on religiously checking on daily basis of the earsand soft parts for ticks.
    henry
     
  14. henryachoroi@yahoo.com

    [email protected] Junior Member

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    location of the project

    hi Paradisi
    thanks for my message the location of the project mbulamuti community centre
    budhamuli village
    mbulamuti sub county
    buzaaya county
    kamuli district
    eastern region
    uganda east africa
    email address;[email protected]
     
  15. Fernando Pessoa

    Fernando Pessoa Junior Member

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    Yes i remember the Mosaic Virus out break very terrible,in Thailand they have the experience of mealy bugs in the roots!
    I also have some clean cassava seed that I will enclose for you and some cuttings,I will send some information as well about mosaic and how to avoid it,though it is very difficult as it is a strong disease,The post may take 1 month or more,do not despair the seeds and other items will be sent this week!
    https://childrenofuganda-permaculture.blogspot.com/
    please see this link,wonderful permaculture is going on in Uganda,they might also be able to assist you.Good work Henry,you have quite a big challenge ahead of you and I wish you much luck!!
    Fernando Pessoa
     
  16. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    I can't help but keep thinking, if you've only got one hectare, you'd make more food by not having a cow or pigs, though i understand the sense of raising piglets to give out to the families. If you have one cow, you've got an expensive and difficult to look after animal who can only give you 1-2 buckets of milk a day which won't go far between all your families. You've also said you have the problem of feeding her. To me it makes no sense for you to keep a cow on this plot. Chickens yes and other fowl. Pig, just but not a cow. Its well understood that growing animals is an inefficient use of land compared to growing vegetables and plant crops for food. Frankly, i wouldn't bother with the pig either. It would all be much easier if you stick to chickens and vegetables.
     

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