sustainable agriculture (SA)

This past week I started the sustainable agriculture program. The majority of our training sessions will be taking place in villages outside of Arusha. Last week, our SA team and a group of 30 nurses who are volunteering for GSC for the month of January, camped out in Mto wa Mbu (literal translation River of Mosquitoes!). Mto wa Mbu is 150km away from the city and borders Manyara Park. The village is somewhat touristy because many safari companies stop for a night on their way to the Crater and the Serengeti. Store vendors sold typical tinga tinga paintings and Maasai carvings, while mamas sold bundles of RED and yellow bananas. Fortunately, we camped about 1km away from the village center in a family's backyard. The family consisted of 5 lively children who loved to sing bongo flava mixes, dance, and play games. Our campsite at night transformed into our classroom during the day. Every morning, Brendan, Mary-Ellen, and I taught brief SA lessons to a group of 30 farmers, while Javeson (one of the SA experts) proceeded to expand and translate our points.

GSC promotes bio-intensive agriculture (BIA). This is a special form of organic farming which is rooted in maintaining sustainable soil fertility by use of "compost." Compost is produced by resource materials grown/found on farms. BIA is a chemical free form of farming which discourages use of chemical sprays and artificial fertilizers. It is a method of raising crops which is cost conscious, simple to learn, and based on scientific technology. There are 6 components of BIA, including: compost making and its utilization, deep land preparation by double digging, plant diversity/companion planting, natural solution against plant pests/diseases, close plant spacing, and maintenance of natural seeds. The 6 topics are taught over a 5-day period.

In addition to teaching farmers, there is a practical portion of our lesson. Farmers are able to apply what they have learned in the classroom setting to the field. With the guidance of the GSC staff and volunteers, farmers practice making compost, a double-dug bed, and sack gardens. The farmers of Mto wa Mbu were eager and enthusiastic to apply what they learned in the classroom to the field. They enjoyed working together as a team to construct the compost and double-dug bed. At the end of the week, they expressed interest in organizing a community farming group among themselves! As part of the program, GSC will return to Mto wa Mbu in 3-months for a follow-up session. I have faith that these farmers will continue practicing the sustainable methods due to their heightened enthusiasm and willingness to change.

As a SA volunteer, I prefer the practical portion of the experience because I am able to actively provide a service and I am far from an expert on this subject so teaching feels like a daunting task. Ultimately, for the next few weeks I hope to participate in as a much mindless, physical labor as possible!

One of the highlights from Mto wa Mbu was building a sack garden for a HIV positive mother. Somme, a nurse volunteer, and I traveled to her home and taught her how to make/use this versatile garden. The mama and her children will now be provided with sustainable nourishment for 3 consecutive farming seasons due to the sack!

A sack garden is a farming alternative used in areas where there is a lack of land/water or by farmers who are too weak/sick to maintain large farms. To make a sack garden, a sack must be filled with a compost-top soil mixture. After filling the sack with 2 buckets of the mixture, a pole is placed in the center of the sack. The center stick's main purpose is to evenly distribute the water throughout the sack. After the sack is full with the mixture, the center stick is removed and gravel and water are placed in the cylinder-like center. For the completion of the sack garden, a farmer must make small slits along the outside of the sack for planting seeds. These slits are made in a triangle pattern for optimal growth. The sack garden can grow leafy vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and smaller vegetables such as carrots. Potatoes, tomatoes, and other larger vegetables are not suitable for a sack garden because their bodies are too heavy.