To get the
communities ready for planting season and the demonstration gardens of green
manure/cover crops that are planned, Geofrey, William, and Emmanuel are busy
training farmer groups about techniques for growing vegetables, how to control
insect pests, and how to improve the soil by growing green manure and cover
crops - plants that grow quickly and often under poor conditions and which add
organic material to the soil.
William and I
taught about the importance of growing vegetables for health, a balanced diet,
and for selling. We discussed the
spacing for different plants and how to estimate ten centimeters or a meter
without having a measuring tape. We also
talked about plant diseases and insect pests.
In one of our trainings, children had just been released from school so they crowded into the church to see what was going on. I'm not sure how much of the teaching they actually listened to because of all the time spent staring at me.
When I worked with
Geofrey, we started a training about green manure and cover crops. We were only able to get through the parts
about differences between good and bad soils, what soil fertility is, and different
ways that people try to improve their soil.
Next time, they will continue by talking about how green manure and
cover crops are an efficient and cost-effective way of caring for and improving
the soil.
The training was very interactive; the farmers brainstormed answers to questions and had the opportunity to teach each other. From what I could tell, they already knew many of the concepts, but maybe had never put them all together systematically.
I do love
teaching, but I am definitely looking forward to going out into the fields and
getting my hands dirty. I was spoiled by
a year working outside on the farm daily at World Hunger Relief!
It is interesting that in our culture, men would give up their seats for a woman, while in Uganda, the women sit on the ground while the men sit on chairs.
ReplyDeleteI love hearing about how your trainings are organized and their content. Spending 3 months in Liberia was only just long enough to really get integrated into the culture and understand the way they did things in the agriculture department. I didn't have much time, energy or capacity to evaluate and analyze the methods and techniques before it was time to go. They practice slash and burn, so I was able to discuss the pros and mostly cons of that, and the livestock practices were pretty horrendous, but that'll be a long-term improvement.....
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