Peter's Update.2. // JUNE 2020 |
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“...The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.” Dan 9.25 The economic situation in Tanzania was pretty dire before the COVID crisis and has now become much worse. The plight of casual workers in developing countries is well documented. All over Africa the disruption to normal trade and movement is having disastrous consequences for so many families who live hand to mouth, and have no resources to carry them through difficult times. It is in the midst of these ‘troublesome times’, we have been asking for the best way forward. We may need to look at providing some food aid to some of the folks we are working with, and we also plan to improve our effectiveness in helping African farmers. Project Vision for 2020 Get bigger by getting smaller! We have been considering for some time now, how we can expand and improve what we are doing in Tanzania. We have gleaned wisdom and guidance from a number of sources. We are seeking to widen our ability to engage very small-lot farmers in improving their practices. Our tractor-mounted machines are very good for farmers with more than 10 acres, and have proven to be strong and reliable in enabling these farmer to increase their production and income from their farms. They will continue to help these farmers improve their lot. |
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An Asymmetric Approach to helping farmers in Africa. There are so many farmers with very small plots of land making it impossible for our staff to reach them all....To be able to help farmers with very small farm lots we have decided to enlarge our range of options. We are seeking to expend our capabilities to reach four different groups (or tiers) of farmers, each in specific ways. We aim to do this in Dawar Village as a first step in the planting season that begins in November 2020. If it goes well we will have an adaptable and comprehensive program that will suit many other villages. |
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Tier 1. Very Small Farmers (less than 1acre) Manual Farming: This group of farmers includes widows, very poor people, some of whom will have health issues. Foundations for Farming is a movement that comes from Zimbabwe. This is the inspired program for training African village farmers and we wish to adopt it as the basic training for all farmers. The course in intensely practical and at the end all the participants are involved in preparing land for planting, and if possible planting a crop. The three day training is a thorough training in No-till/Conservation Agriculture/ Regenerative Farming. Teaching the farmers: No Burning, No Tillage, and Keeping the Crop Residue as “God’s Blanket”, over the soil. It definitely teaches the ‘protestant work ethic’, that brings prosperity to all who embrace it. They learn how to make compost and to prepare the planting bed before the rains. With only a hand hoe and minimal outside inputs they have seen yields increase from 0.3 tons to more than 3 tons to the acre. It was meeting these people through Angus Buchan coming to Perth in about 2011 that opened my eyes to the potential of African village agriculture. This program is in more than 26 African countries, but has not been so successful in Tanzania. We believe it is time to engage more with this program and use it as entry level training for all our farmers. Farmers with less than one acre of land can still earn a surprising amount just with their hoe, once they have learned FfF principles.They can have enough to eat all year and some to sell. You can read some amazing testimonials at foundationsforfarming.org We wish to raise a budget to run this training each year in new villages. Biblical Financial Stewardship We will also including training in Financial Stewardship, a course our friend Ps Ross Elford has developed and used for some years in the Solomon Islands, resulting in great economic benefit to the local people. All our farmers will do this training. |
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Tier2. Small Farmers (more than 1 acre): Animal Traction Farming (Ox drawn No-till Planters) The most common power source in Tanzanian agriculture is still the oxen. Although the Ox- drawn plough is not as devastating to the soil as the tractor pulled plough, it is still damaging to the soil's biological life, and the fragile soils erode very badly. The Plough is part of the traditional farming system, that keeps yields low. We have found a source of single row, planters that are able to be pulled by oxen. In our workshop we can easily convert them to No-till. This will enable a redemptive use of the oxen, that are everywhere available, while also giving the farmers all the benefits of the shift to a 'No-till based' farming system, at little cost. This has been an exciting development and we see a huge potential for these machines. These people are very poor, but they have good cows that can work hard. Providing these simple machines empowers this group of farmers, they can do it all for themselves. We only have one tractor, but they don’t need to wait for our team to come. In this way they will learn more, gain more confidence, and in time they will see their communities lifted out of poverty. |
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Tier 3 Small Farmers (more than 5 acres) : Power Tiller-pulling No-till Planter The village farmers sometimes experience extreme poverty, especially in dry areas. Invariably using poor farming techniques, their income is small. This tier probably would be the largest, and would be based on a mechanised system using Power Tillers, also called Two Wheeled Tractors. The Power Tillers are common now in East Africa and come with a trailer that is very useful and would carry a small boom sprayer for weed and crop spraying. We will convert the planters to No-till and make the small Boom Sprayers in our workshop. A 15hp tiller pulling a 2-row planter can plant 1 acre per hour. These Power-Tillers are Chinese, and they are robust and easy to repair. Parts are available. The Power-tiller costs AUD$2,800 and a Single-row Planter is $400. We would ask the farmers' group to nominate one entrepreneurial farmer who would purchase the equipment and provide a contract service to the group, who would work with him to plant the crops. It has been found that this works better than having everyone owning the machinery. |
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Tier 4 Small Farmers (more than 10 acres) : Tractor Drawn No-till Planter Our existing program will continue with these farmers. We are seeing great progress as they continue to learn more and improve their skills in No-till farming. Fundraising Goal- $20,000 We are seeking to raise these funds by August this year. If you are able to help us with this it would be greatly appreciated! Projected Costs : Dawar Village 3 Day Farmer Training $600.00 Boom Sprayer x 2 $2,400.00 Power Tiller 1 $2,800.00 Double row planter 1 $800.00 Single row planter x2 $800.00 15 farmers 15 $3,000.00 sub Total $10,400.00 Cost for a 4 -Week Trip : Airfare $2,000.00 Accommodation $450.00 Fuel $500.00 Workshop consumables $350.00 Food $550.00 Staff Support $2,200.00 Contingency for Food /Medical Aid $3,000.00 Vehicle Repairs/Service $400.00 Sub Total $9,450.00 Grand Total $19,850.00 |
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The Avocado Project Good News from Marangu, Mama Esther reports, " Thank you so much for the gift you sent. it was well received to our account with much appreciation. We give glory to the Lord for your loving gift and your soft heart towards us. God bless you so much. Here now we are in cold season has started, and we have several cases of people who are suffering with pneumonia especial old people and children. Your help through Tiamoyo is highly appreciated. We were able to support 50 families and our children we care. Nothing we can pay you but God will do! " |
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Meanwhile, back in Perth > Sadly, due to Covid-19 restrictions, we are contemplating cancelling plans to run our VILLAGE QUIZ NIGHT 2020 But watch this space for other initiatives! |
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However we are still collecting donations to fundraise : Can you donate prizes or a service? Do you have a favourite chemist or hairdresser (etc.) who might be prepared to donate a freebie? |
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We will keep you in touch via our Face Book Pageand in Events https://www.facebook.com/empowerproject.info |
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Thanks for staying connected with us! We'd love to hear from you and share more about our vision if you'd like to get more involved. |
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