Food security project in Rwanda

Discussion in 'Jobs, projects, courses, training, WWOOFing, volun' started by macey, Mar 3, 2013.

  1. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    [​IMG]Southern Cross Permaculture Institute.

    This is an overview, written by Rick, of the food security project I am working on in Rwanda, with Rick Coleman



    SCPI has been set the task of moving 38000 people towards food water and income security. The job has been made easier by mostly government friendly and proactive policies on sustainability. ADRA,the NGO contracting us has already made deep inroads towards this goal.

    Key aspects to deal with are an inconsistent rainfall due to global warming. (techniques to address this are new to a people that always had reliable seasons).

    Food diversity is strong but quality is inconsistent. Partly due to rainfall, partly skills and knowledge.

    Marketing produce relates back to an individual villagers lack of power at the marketplace. ADRA has already assisted in the formation of cooperatives so this gives us a mechanism to work with. Small community banks are also common.

    Anyway that's the big pattern. We'll try to get photos but restricted by bandwith.
     
  2. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    Hunter Valley New South Wales
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    Climate:
    warm temperate - some frost - changing every year
    What resources are obvious Andy - by way of currently waste organic matter? Are ther byproducts of agriculture or industry? Peanut shells? Sorgum thrash? Love hearing what you guys are up to.
     
  3. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    There are a number of resources for dry mulches including, wastes from maize crops, banana leaf of as well as spent trunks, yes sorghum thrash and materials from soya harvest, we've seen a fair bit of canna lilly about as well among other resources.
    The main usage seems to be under bananas but there is nowhere near enough to entirely mulch the areas and this is resulting in thin inadequate coverage over the whole area. We will be looking to initiate the focusing of dry mulches around the bananas and the usage of ground cover such as sweet potato in between, once beans are added to the mix we have a nice little guild.
     
  4. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    Day 1 of the Permacuture Design Course tomorrow.....A PDC is an intensive 2 week course that teaches Permaculture as a holistic design system. We will be facilitating the course for 60 attendees from the Eastern province of Rwanda, a mix of government and NGO staff agronomists and horticulturalists, 2 representatives from individual districts who have cooperatives fromed for sale of their produce.

    The course participants will then assist in training other members of their communities, our aim is to provide a base of knowledge that will impact 3800 people in providing food security while moving through climate change.
    This is the timetable for day 1:

    Introductions


    What is Permaculture?

    Some principles:

    Multi function
    Diversity
    Biological resources


    Observational walk

    Zones and Sectors
     
  5. chook-in-eire

    chook-in-eire Junior Member

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  6. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    I'll check out the link, thanks
     
  7. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    Day 1 of the PDC saw us working in hot conditions.
    We have based ourselves in the grounds of a small rural hospital in the Kyonza district of Eastern Rwanda. It has some seriously bad land to work with, extremely degraded with gravel and no organic matter or water holding capacity, this is deliberate so we can demonstrate Permaculture as a viable solution. Good land is too easy!!

    We opened with an introduction to what Permaculture is and then looked at a few of the design principles applied in Permaculture.

    Rick led an observational walk of the site and I finished the day with a lesson on zones and sectors in a Permaculture design.

    Ricks overview following day 1 is below:

    Day one of the PDC well .
    We picked the worst site we could find cos if we can do it there ,it will apply everywhere.

    Class is already beginning to buzz. The plan is to train 50+ who will take it out with Rwandan cultural adaptations.
    (Every design strategy is different and must be attuned to variations in soil ,climate,culture and capacity.)

    I expect the trainers to positively influence 15 000 people in the first year and 38 000 by year three.

    Andy and I are here as seed mechanisms. The rest will generate from the above structure and our ability to draw on existing knowledge and skills already within the communities.
    That is we won't be bringing in excavators or using designs that no-one can copy.
     
  8. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    Day 2 Rwanda PDC

    Day 2 of Rwanda PDC.

    Big day of teaching for me today:
    Reviewed zone and sector planning with an interactive exercise (sand map on ground).

    Permaculture ethics were introduced to the group, I then facilitated the group in exploring their own ethics and how they related to care of earth care of people and fair share. We related this to on the ground things that work towards these ideals.

    Following Ricks session on companion planting and intergrated pest management, I continued the theme into tree guilds.

    In the afternoon, I did a practical demonstration of organic pesticides:

    We started gently with soap, garlic and chilli teas and then upped the ante with teas made from Cassia and Neem (the nuclear bomb of organic pesticides).

    Despite being organic, Neem is still very devastating to all insect species and therefore should only be used as a last resort in order to avoid starvation through crop failure.

    Good soil health and balanced ecosystem is by far the best way to avoid pests!

    Below is Ricks blog from today:



    Day two.

    Integrated Pest Management. In a GM seed pesticide regime you can't go cold turkey and switch straight to organics.
    We have to take the methadone approach. That is the soil is damaged by pesticide and needs to regenerate life to come back into balance.

    There are few established predator attracting plants. Surrounding farms aren't converted and will harbour problems such as fungus dominance and collapsed soil profiles leading to extreme erosion.

    Organics involves thinking ,planning,timing and some skills. These have to be developed. I believe a two year timeline is more realistic.

    Switching off GM also contravenes govt policy and crop choice is govt directed. So treading quietly.(revolutions can be quiet)
    Andy made some natural pesticide teas.
    This first step away from chemical dependence.(Eventually this to will be only a backup as the village farms have resilience built into them) I invented the chilli banana for monkey repelling. More later gotta meeting.
     
  9. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    Ricks update below Just about sums up day 1.....
    I really enjoyed giving a lesson on small intensive systems, most villagers only have a very small plot to work with and an extra intensive kitchen garden is what is required!!

    Day three. Dealing with the effects of climate change.

    The wet season comes, you plant, the wet season finishes, you harvest.
    The system has worked well for generations.
    Now the rain is inconsistent.

    No skill sets for storage and irrigation have evolved as there was never a need. Developing strategies to hold water in the soil,to direct water to key plants and to capture water off hard surfaces will increase the resilience of Rwandan cropping systems.

    Strategies taught were terracing,swales,net and pan systems,stone walls boomerangs, banana circles,logs across the slope,swenches,roadside diversion and wicking beds and pottery gardens for the freedraining areas.

    The class then set about implementing most of these techniques on a difficult slope. Unbelievable work speed. Slope completed in one afternoon.
    Still have to do a bit of tidying up as the Mayor is coming to visit at lunchtime tomorrow. We've finally sussed out the photo problems so be patient.
     
  10. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    warm temperate - some frost - changing every year
    Looking forward to the pics. I like the fb photo of you with the a frame level.
     
  11. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    PDC rwanda days 4 and 5

    Days 4 and 5 of the PDC we are teaching in the Eastern Province of Rwanda saw us giving lessons on all things trees, from pruning to food forest to agroforestry.

    Before we did this though, we finished off the hillside that we had begun to swale, terrace and use other water strtegies on the day before.....in the same fashion as the day before the course participants had finished the work in a fraction of the time it would take a group of Aussies!

    We then planted our bananna circles and terraced veg. garden.

    There is a wealth of knowledge in the group so I utilised the skills of a local agronomist who specialises in Agroforestry, to enhance the sections on pruning, coppice and pollard management.

    At the end of day 4 we set a design task which was then worked on and presented the next day.....with amazing results, they all just 'got it'

    Ricks blog from yesterday:


    Permaculture is not just about fruit and vegetables. Looking at the whole picture is important. Eg Improving the efficiency of the stove reduces the amount of smoke in the cooks lungs.
    Reduces the firewood needed to be cut. Which cuts down on environmental damage.
    Less trees removed. An efficient stove means a little more free time for the cook and the chopper.
    Designing more freetime means time to think and develop. When you work all the time ,then it's hard to break out of the paradigm.
     
  12. purplepear

    purplepear Junior Member

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    warm temperate - some frost - changing every year
    I saw the pics of the stoves and thought that a rocket stove here and there would not go astray. Thanks for the update - keep them coming.
     
  13. macey

    macey Junior Member

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    ongoing updates

    I have been cut and pasting mine and Rick Coleman's blogs from our PDC in Rwanda......
    I think it might be easier to point anyone interested to my Facebook page as I have been uploading photo blogs and with the patchy internet availability here in Kayonza district I cannot upload to multiple sites!

    you can find me by searching Sustainable future permaculture in FB

    you can find Rick's blogs by searching for Southern Cross Permaculture Institute in FB

    We will be writing a report for the PRI main page and will also be writing for a Permaculture publication in the UK.
     

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