Two weeks ago we organized a field trip that took us to a school and two homes that are practicing "Permaculture," which stands for permanent agriculture. The basic idea is a lot of intercropping of indigenous plants that work well with each other, improving the soil and groundwater without any chemicals, and a well thought out design for water harvesting and composting right outside your school door and home. On this trip we included the Headmaster of both the secondary and primary school, the Group Village Head (she's in charge of 11 other chiefs), a community member, two teachers, four students, and the two of us. Our role now at this point is to continually encourage the schools and individuals to start practicing permaculture now that they have the idea. There has been a dependency on chemical fertilizers, government vouchers, and one, nonindigenous crop (maize) for too long. Things are changing here in many parts of Malawi, but very slowly, and this field trip hopefully openened some eyes. 
No comments:
Post a Comment