Zion by The Abay

OUR NEW WEBSITE

2009-07-05T17:54:00.001+03:00

Please Visit WWW.PERMALODGE.ORG for more info on Straberry Fields and our Permaculture initiatives and training programs.

2009-02-23T03:35:00.001+03:00

SFEL PDC and Cultural Immersion Video on Youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uYEfWe5hKY

ONLINE ARTICELS ON SFEL

2009-02-22T14:51:00.000+03:00

http://www.permacultureusa.org/2009/02/04/spotlight-on-ethiopia/

http://addisconnexion.com/index.php/Helping_Hands/Strawberry_Fields_Eco_Lodge.html

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/reason/how-to-design-a-sustainable-farm

Internship Available at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge, Konso, Ethiopia

2009-02-21T21:51:00.000+03:00

Intern wanted to help establish eco-trail routes in southern Ethiopia, in the rift valley area of Konso, known for its Sorghum agriculture and indigenous terracing system. Experience working in eco-tourism and/or a qualification in ecotourism required. Significant mileage as an international traveller is essential. Adventure tourism, military or boy scouts training may also come in handy. The position involves exploring routes and activities based on research already conducted, giving training and advice to the local guides who will operate the tours, cultivating community contacts and building relations with key members of the community to facilitate community benefit, participation and financial rewards as well as ease of operating. The position lasts for 3 months. Apply by March 20th.

Full board provided.

Information on Strawberry Fields: http://zionbytheabbay.blogspot.com/
Applicants send their CV with 2 references and introductory letter to alex1mcc@yahoo.com

72 HOUR PERMACULTURE COURSE CURRICULUM at SFEL

2009-02-01T21:25:00.000+03:00

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Introduction to SFEL. Course outline, references, materials and housekeeping issues.
1.2 Why learn the Permaculture concept?
1.3 Historical background to Permaculture, worldwide, relationship with African indigenous agriculture and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS)
1.4 Characteristics, ethics and principles of Permaculture.

2.0 Ecosystems Blocks
2.1 Permaculture base is ecology.
2.2 Water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow, cycle of matter, succession and limiting factors to energy flow.

3.0 Resource Assessment
3.1 Why resource assessment
3.2 Water management and harvesting techniques, A-Frame construction and practicals.

4.0 Principles of Design
4.1 Procedures skills and techniques.
4.2 Observations, sectors, zones, deductions, maps, etc.
4.3 Taking advantage of different macro-climates in design.
4.4 Reduction of risks, energy use and selection of appropriate plant and other elements to implement on the design.
4.5 Observing different microclimates and creating various microclimates.

5.0 Soils
5.1 Traditional soil classification.
5.2 Observation of various soils and relates plant and animal life.
5.3 Types of soil erosion damage and types of soil repair.
5.4 Water in relationship to soil and soil rehabilitation.

6.0 Plants Uses in Permaculture
6.1 Nurseries propagation methods theory and practice.
6.2 Plants multiple functions in Permaculture design.
6.3 Forests and guilds as air-conditioners, food, diggers, mulches, windbreaks, etc.
6.4 Designing food forests by mimicking natural forest.

7.0 Nature Patterns
7.1 Creating highly productive designs/landscapes by integrating nature patterns e.g. spirals, linear circles, etc.

8.0 Productive Landscapes/ Designs
8.1 World climatic zones, appropriate and situational approach for the designer.
8.2 IKS of soils, water use and nutrients have always been sustainable.
8.3 Homebuilding and sitting with productive landscape, comfort, health, energy consumption in mind.
8.4 Food gardens for the city and countryside.
8.5 Keeping water and soil in productive state and developing self-sufficiency.
8.6 Orchards as chemically food forests. Protective fertilizers, firewood species in the food forests. Use of small animals in food forests; chickens, ducks, turkeys, bees, guinea fowls, guinea pigs, and pigs.
8.7 Alley cropping and integrating large animals like cattle and game.
8.8 Dry land farming techniques- principles of erosion control – strategies, bunds, minimum till, port-holing, tied ridges, tied furrows, mulch farming, mixed and intercropping, etc.
8.8 Natural forests creation for provision of firewood, oils, dyes, bark, incomes, etc
8.9 Conserving remnant forests to build up corridors and various ways of promoting their growth.

9.0 Productivity and Sustainability
9.1 Weed management to acceptable levels.
9.2 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) – insect classification, structure and life cycle. Role of predators.
9.3 Vegetable and herb gardens – mandala garden design and construction, keyhole beds, organic materials and mulches.
9.4 Aquaculture production systems- fish, plants water plants, tortoise, etc.
9.5 Designing for natural disasters – drought, fire, war, storms, floods, etc so that the landscape recovers speedily.
9.6 Waste disposal-effluent systems animal waste, manure. Recycling pruning timber and composting.
9.7 Biotechnology and its effects today including GMO information.

10.0 Self-sufficiency
10.1 Building self-sufficient communities:-country skills e.g. weaving, crafts, small scale excess food packaging and processing
10.2 Ethical investments
10.3 Access to production base, the Land for the disadvantaged members of the community and legal protection for land ownership.
10.4 Preparing management and development action plans including monitoring and evaluation for the Permaculture design.

Curriculum Vitae of SFEL's Resident Permaculture Trainer

2008-02-01T21:39:00.001+03:00

TICHAFA MAKOVERE SHUMBA

E-mail: tichafam@yahoo.com

OBJECTIVES
· Seeking position of permaculture trainer/facilitator
· Permaculture curriculum/materials development officer
· Permaculture site designer and development officer

BACKGROUND SUMMARY
· Relevant experience and role model
· Fourteen years as permaculturist
· Can work under pressure
· Seasoned, open-minded, visionary, team player and well-informed leader
· Possesses keen interest in acquiring more knowledge and share with others
· Can work in a team and adjust to knew environments
· Courteous and has good communication skills

1.0 EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
1.1 2002-2003: Advanced Diploma in Education: Supervision (ADIS)
Institution: Morgan UZ College, Zimbabwe
1.2 1998-2000: B. Tech (Education Management)
Institution: Pretoria Technikon, South Africa
1.3 1984-1987: Certificate in Education
Institution: United College of Education (UZ Associate College)

2.0 PERMACULTURE EDUCATION BACKGROUND
2.1 May 2001: Participatory Training of Facilitators Schools and Colleges Permaculture (SCOPE)
2.2 July 2000: Training of Trainers Course (SCOPE)
2.3 March 1999: Bird Awareness Course
Institution: Ornithological Association of Zimbabwe
2.4 March 1996: Synergistic Agriculture
Institution: PELUM Botswana
2.5 June 1994: Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
Institution: Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre

3.0 PERMACULTURE WORKING EXPERIENCE
3.1 1997 to date: Facilitator/Trainer
-Permaculture/environmental Projects
-Schools and Colleges Permaculture Programme (SCOPE)
3.2 1994-1997: Permaculture Teacher-in-Charge

4.0 DUTIES
4.1 Drawing up 1-week and 2-week programmes for SCOPE
4.2 Facilitating at both 1-week and 2-week workshops
4.3 Producing training materials and handouts for SCOPE
4.4 Making follow-up visits to schools in training, fundraising committees for the advancement of permaculture
4.5 Attend and contribute to permaculture planning workshops, review/monitoring workshops
4.6 Attend and contribute to curriculum, training, fundraising committees for the advancement of permaculture
4.7 Represent SCOPE at international forum e.g. Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA)
4.8 Reviewed books on permaculture before they were published e.g. SCOPE Learners Book

5.0 PERSONAL PERMACULTURE HIGHLIGHTS
5.1 Taking first position nationally (Zimbabwe) for the best permaculture implementing school in 1995
5.2 Producing handouts which are still being used by SCOPE (Zimbabwe)
5.3 Representing the training committee at planning review workshops
5.4 Participating in the panel that formed Re-SCOPE in Lusaka, December 2006

6.0 MEMBERSHIP TO ASSOCIATION
6.1 1996-1998: Chairperson, Permaculture Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ)
6.2 1994-1996: Secretary, Permaculture Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ)

7.0 HOBBIES
7.1 Raising nurseries and distributing them to the community
7.2 Eco-tourism and bird-watching
7.3 Seed vending
7.4 Writing on herbeological, nutritional and environmental topics
7.5 Writing poetry
7.6 Watching and training soccer
7.7 Reading and traveling

THE STRAWBERRYFIELDS ECO-LODGE

2007-08-24T09:43:00.000+03:00

BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT

KONSO: LOCATION AND ADMINISTRATION

The Southern Region (SNNPRS) of Ethiopia is by far the most ethnically and culturally diverse of Ethiopia’s nine administrative regions, being home to over 56 distinct ethnic/cultural groups. The region is divided into 13 zones, which are assigned to major ethnicities and another eight “special waredas” assigned to smaller minorities and are administered directly from the capital, Awassa.

Konso Special Wareda is one of the 8 special waredas in the SNNPRS. It is situated at 5'15' N and a longitude of 37'30' E and covers an area of approximately 500 square kilometres, ranging in altitude from 500 to 2500m, with its main agricultural zone ranging from 1400 to 2000m above sea level (Engels and Goettsch 1999). The Konso highland is a basalt massive, which runs east to west across the bowl of the Great Rift Valley. Konso’s capital, Karat-Konso, is situated at 1600m altitude, located 85km south of Arba Minch, and around 590km south of Addis Ababa.

KONSO’S CULTURE

The Konso people have a unique culture, based on sedentary mixed agriculture, which distinguishes them from their neighbours in the lowlands to the east and west who are pastoralists (Engels and Goettsch 1999). The pastoralists have in the past been (and in some cases still are) prone to raid both one-another and neighbouring farming peoples (including the Konso) for cattle, which has greatly affected the Konso lifestyle. Their society is centred on walled hilltop villages, which are constructed for defence.

The people display a strong moral code and work ethic, which immediately distinguished them from much of the rest of Ethiopia. They speak an eastern Cushitic language, suggesting a link to other Cushitic speakers in Ethiopia, such as Oromo, Somali and Afar. However, their appearance is more typically African, somewhat resembling the Bantu peoples to the south of Ethiopia. Their exact origins are obscure, and their own folk-law only indicates that they came from some where to the east between 500-1000 years ago.

The Konso village is remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of its workmanship, constructed entirely of natural materials, cultivated or gathered from the surroundings. The entire village is ringed by dry-stone walls, at least a meter thick and two meters high. Stone-lined gangways run between the housing compounds and the stones have usually become polished to a shine by long years of service in the village’s transport system.

The houses are of the archetypal African form, a conical thatched roof, sitting on a circular wall built from wooden poles and wicker, plastered over with mud-hay dawb. The apex of the roof topped by a broken clay pot to keep rain from running down the central column that supports the apex.

Within the village, Houses are arranged into family compounds, each with three to five houses and grain store, which is raised off the ground on wooden poles. Animals including goats, cattle and the distinctive Konso fat-tailed sheep, are tethered under the grain-store or elsewhere in the compound and fed on hand-cut food, especially sorghum straw.

The family compounds are further organised into sub-communities, which form sections of the village. Each of which has its own “mora” or community house. The community house is a two-storey building comprising a sitting area under a large roof, with a wooden ceiling underneath. The “ground floor” of the community house is where the men gather to govern the villiage life. It is also a place for recreation and the Young females and boys may gather here to play, chat and relax during the day when they are not working. The attic of the mora serves another function. It is here where all unmarried men over the age of 12 are obliged to sleep. This traditional mode of organisation meant that the men were grouped and ready to defend the viliage in the case of attack, but although there are no longer such threats to the villiage the tradition is maintained today.

FEATURES OF KONSO’S AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM

Konso’s most distinguishing feature, however, is its mode of agriculture. The area is classified as a semi-arid ecology (“kola”), the soil is poor in quality and the terrain rugged while there is low, erratic rainfall, all of which provides a tough environment from which to yield a living. Rainfall averages 570mm (UNDP 1999) and does not exceed 800mm annually (Engels and Goettsch 1999). Most of that rain comes in the form of torrential storms which usually occur during two periods, annually; the big rains which fall between March and May (which includes over half the annual rainfall) and the small rains which usually fall between September and November. Such eratic rainfall can cause rapid erosion and loss of fertility if land is cultivated ineptly or vegetation is removed by burning or over-grazing.

Despite the tough challenge, Konso farmers manage to sustain a population of around 186,000 people within their area (UNDP 1999), which is achieved through a combination of hard work, a careful respect for the land and sophisticated farming techniques, almost completely unique in this part of Africa.

Some areas of Ethiopia were endowed with great natural, which has been almost completely squandered by careless exploitation and lack of respect for the land. Konso, however, makes the best of its humble lot. Its farming system is mixed but primarily plant based, incorporating, annual and perennial crops and trees. The culture has a healthy respect for plant life and sacred forests (which, fascinatingly, are composed mainly of succulent plants, such as cactus and Euphorbia species) are maintained in close proximity to the villages. Other areas, such as Amhara, have seen wide scale deforestation followed by massive over-grazing, so that once-fruitful landscapes are stripped bare of all but an inch-thick patches of grass beneath the hoofs of millions of cattle, and now tend to yield only poverty and famine. In Konso animals are kept penned within the villages. This practise may have begun as a security measure, but it means that grazing is tightly regulated and animals are fed on hand cut fodder, including crop residues.

The most notable feature of Konso’s system is the famous terracing, which has been constructed across large areas by centuries of communal labour upon the slopes of the rugged landscape. The terracing acts to prevent soil erosion to a great extent, and terraced are carefully crafted to balance the competing demands of maximising water infiltration into the ground, with insuring adequate drainage in times of heavy rain so that the terraces do not collapse.

The terraces are planted with sorghum, which is intercropped with a range of other species; including trees, most importantly Moringa oleifera (also called the cabbage tree) Terminalia birowni, and Cordia africana which are grown for timber; perennials, such as coffee and chat (Catha edulis) and annuals including sunflowers, pigeon pea maize, millet, chick peas, various bean species, cotton and cassava. The terraces are fertilised with wastes from the villiages including partially burned plant residues mixed with animal dung, which acts to keep the soil fertile.

Within the villages Moringa (the cabbage tree) is planted all around the family compounds and harvested regularly to form one of the staples of the konso diet. Its leaves, which are reported to be extra-ordinarily nutritious, are cooked and mixed with dumplings made from Sorghum flower to make a dish called korkoffa. The other main food item in Konso is checka which is actually sorghum beer, though it more closely resembles porrage actually. It is drunk as a broth mixed with hot water, in the mornings and at lunch-time when the people are prepring for work. It is extremely rich in carbohydrate and provides plenty of energy for the farmers, but it also insures that people are generally drunk!

FOOD INSECURITY IN KONSO

Despite Konso’s remarkable agriculture, the area is not free from problems. The UNDP’s Rapid Assessment Report: Konso Special Wereda, SNNPR (1999) states that; “since the 1950s, drought induced famines have hit Konso and the immediate area almost once every ten years.” “Konso was devastated by the droughts in 1973/74 and 1983/84”. The report states that: 58% of the total populations (107,722 people) were in need of immediate assistance in August 1999, due to a series of calamities, including 3 consecutive years of failed rains and an infestation of migratory Quelea birds (Quelea quelea) in 1998, which damaged the sorghum crop. At the time of writing, stocks of animal fodder were almost exhausted. The situation was exacerbated in 1998 by an outbreak of army-worm (Spodoptera exempta) in April/May 1999, which damaged ceriels and fodder crops. At the time of writing the article.

Indicators of the severity of the situation included malnutrition among children and severe emaciation of the elderly. Despite this, “there was no relief food stocks available at the wereda warehouses for immediate distribution. Stocks of supplementary foods for children under five, pregnant and lactating mothers were nil.”

The article went on to make several recommendations for alleviating the problem in the mid term, amongst which was to “identify the scope for further projects incorporating Employment Generation and/or Food-for-Work activities to help people find employment and rebuild their asset base.” It is obvious to anyone who observes the economics of the area that the tourism industry is the sector which provides the most scope for employment generation in Konso.

TOURISM IN KONSO

Konso is well positioned to reap economic benefits from the tourism industry, boasting, as it does, a fascinating culture and marvellous scenery. Being positioned at a junction between routes to Arba Minch, The Omo Valley and the road to Moyale (Kenya) via Yabello, it already has a large flow of tourists passing it by. Konso’s villiages have a unique style and atmosphere which makes for an amazing experience just to walk through them. Attractions in the area include the increadible highlands around Fasha village, which itself has an interesting market. Nearby to that is the bizare landscape nick named “New York”, since it resembles a city of sky-scrapers. There is also an anthropological museum in Karate and an ancient archeological site close to the town.

THE EFFECTS OF TOURISM

Tourism has a great potential to infuse wealth into the locality and generate employment in the area, drawing as it does on economic reserves, which come from abroad and are far less limited than those available locally. It is therefore apt that Konso was named as one of the six first recipient destinations for projects “aimed specifically at helping to reduce poverty, to be supported by the ST-EP Foundation. ST-EP, "Sustainable Tourism - Eliminating Poverty", an initiative of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) launched in 2002 at the Johannesburg Summit.”

However, the key issue in utilising tourism to tackle poverty and promote community development is to insure the flow of funds into the appropriate hands. The major problem with tourism industry in Konso today, as well as elsewhere in the south of Ethiopia is that the communities which display the fascinating and diverse cultures, which are the primary attractions for tourists, are not the ones which receive most of the benefit of the industry. As Phillip Briggs points out in the 2005 edition of the Bradt Guide to Ethiopia; “…the normal procedure is to pre-book a vehicle with a recognised tour operator in Addis Ababa. This will normally work out at $150-200 per day…”. During such pre-booked tours the tourists are shepherded about from tribe to tribe, as if they were bird-spotting, and are asked to pay 1Bir ($0.11) per photo to the some of the tribes they photograph.

Worse still, the local Tourism Bureau in Konso, which itself was established under the ST-EP foundation initiative, has caught operators violating the law, and taking their customers to the villages without paying the 40 Bir ($4.40) visiting permit fee (a fee which the operator should pay). This can only be attributed to the fact that they would like to take home a larger profit, when they return to Addis, or that they want more money to spend on drinking, chewing ‘chat (Catha edulis) and dancing with the ladies in the town hotels, all of which anathema to Konso’s conservative culture.

It is thus not surprising that the local people in some areas (including Konso) have developed some resentment towards the Addis based tour-operators, indeed to northerners in general, who sell their (completely distinct) culture to foreigners, as if it belonged to them, without sharing anything of the benefits. As well as this, the villagers can hardly be blamed for resenting the foreigners who wonder about their villages poking their noses into people’s lives, without giving them any form of benefit in return, but flashing about lots of high-tech equipment, which they themselves can never dream of owning. Worse still, is the propensity of certain tourists, out of some form of self-indulgent pity, to wonder around Africa handing out useless gifts like sweets or pennies to children, as if it would somehow help their situation. What it does achieve, however, is that whenever, there-after, white people arrive at a village, they are immediately mobbed with demands for “caramella” or “one Bir” by the children, which does not enhance the experience of meeting another culture.

THE AIMS OF STRAWBERRY FIELDS ECO-LODGE IN KONSO:
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AND THE PROMOTION OF FOOD SECURITY

RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AND PROVISION OF NEW ACTIVITIES

We define responsible tourism as tourism which is managed to insure the following:

· Provide benefits (especially employment and skills) to the communities which themselves form the tourist attraction in the visited area
· To promote an atmosphere of respect, understanding and appreciation between the visitors and the local people
· To preserve and promote, rather than exploit and corrupt local culture and traditions
· To reduce the impingement of tourist activities (such as photography) onto the lives of the local people to a bare minimum

In order to affect these aims the Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge intends to:

· Employ local staff and contract jobs to local workers, where-ever possible, and initiate training programs for locals where not.
· To work in close contact with the Local Tourism Bureau in Konso and promote the use of local guides by lodge guests
· By providing itineraries for tours and trekking in the area, which take in community based projects at different locations around the wareda
· To brief all visitors on appropriate behaviours before visiting villages, so that their behaviour will promote good will between tourists and the local community and wont ruin the experience for future visitors.
· To make it clear that there are appropriate channels through which donations can be made if people are keen to help a particular community economically, and that they should not go about showering gifts on children.
· To show multiple aspects of the local culture (food, customs, music etc.) to guests within lodge
· To facilitate constructive activities locally such as volunteering to teach in schools or to undertake anthropological or language learning locally, which will promote the formation of meaningful relationships between visitors and locals

All of the above can be achieved by good management and co-operation with local institutions. We hope thus to increase the range of activities available for tourists in the area, subsequently making Konso a more attractive place for tourists to spend their time. This will cause tourists to spend longer in Konso and increase the revenue contributed to the local economy.

PROMOTION OF FOOD SECURITY

As outlined above Konso has suffered from food insecurity in the past. The Strawberryfields Ecolodge aims to contribute to alleviating this problem in a number of ways:

Employment Creation
Enhancement of the Local Tourism Industry (as specified above)
Introduction of New Agricultural and Resource Management Methodologies
Investment in Education and the Creation of Infrastructure for Public Service Locallay

INTRODUCTION OF NEW AGRICULTURAL METHODOLOGIES TO THE AREA

Strawberry Fields will use a special methodology on-site: Permaculture Design System for sustainable human habitations within productive environments.

Permaculture is a resource management system, which aims to maximise the productive yield of domestic systems, utilising synergy between the elements of the system.

An element is any part of the house-hold or farmstead into which energy and nutrients flow, and from which they exit. (e.g. the kitchen, the toilet, the vegetable garden, the shower, the fish pond etc.)
Each element requires inputs and produces outputs.
Permaculture aims to make the outputs of all elements into inputs for other elements so that:
- Wastage is minimised.
- Reliance on external inputs is minimised.
Accordingly the output of the system will be greater than that of the combined output of its parts in isolation (synergy).

The Eco Lodge will be set within a model permaculture farm, which will demonstrate permaculture techniques to the local community and to guests of the lodge. It is planned to bring permaculturalists from around the world to the site, to work together with local farmers and foreign volunteers in developing an effective permaculture system. This will be done using the local agricultural system as a starting point and introducing new systems which have not been employed in the area till now due to lack of information and capital. It is intended to work with water harvesting and irrigation systems as well as biogas production to reduce energy consumption and ease deforestation.

Once a sufficiently effective permaculture system has been developed, it is intended to establish a Permaculture School and an NGO, both of which will provide public service to local people free of charge.

THE PERMACULTURE SCHOOL

The school will offer courses in Permaculture both to foreigners and locals, offering both theoretical and activity based training to mixed groups. Foreigners will be charge fees to cover the costs of the running of the school.

THE NGO

It is also planned to establish an NGO, which will invest revenue from the lodge’s earnings into schemes and activities which will directly benefit the local community. The NGO will work in co-operation with the Konso Development Association, and will be active in the following areas:

Permaculture and Food Security
Development of infrastructure in the area to allow more efficient resource management and utilisation, including the establishment of systems for water harvesting and biogas production in the surrounding villages.
Health Care
The Strawberry Fields’ management team is keen to see an improvement in the public health care services available in the locality. The NGO will thus contribute to improving the situation through investing in local health care services.
Volunteering Activities
As well as the above the NGO will be able to facilitate voluntary placements for volunteers from around the world to work in various fields of activity in Konso including:
- Permaculture and resource management infrastructure construction
- Health care
- Teaching

THE COMPLETED PICTURE

It is thus the final aim of the Strawberry Fields project to promote the interaction of foreigners directly with the Konso villagers in a meaningful way to allow the formation of proper relationships. We hope, one day, to include within our touring itineraries the infrastructure and systems which we have facilitated host communities in Konso to create, through direction of revenue from the tourism industry into the local economy. By this stage it should have become abundantly clear to the villagers themselves that they are benefiting directly from the tourism industry. At such a stage we hope one day, by the grace of God, be able to say that we have achieved our objectives in setting up the Strawberry Fields project in Konso.

Profile of Kambatta Tembaro Malmat Mahber (KTMM), or ‘Kambatta Development Through Education’

2007-08-23T09:29:00.000+03:00

KTMM is an indgenous Ethiopian NGO which shall be co-hosting Rosemary Morrow on her visit to southern Ethiopia in May 2008. She will give one of two 72h Permaculture design Courses at the KTMM's site in Kembata from May 8th to May 22nd 2008.

1. Basic Facts About Kambata Temro Malmat Mahber (Learn and Develop) (KTMM )

KTMM is a non-partisan and an indigenous philanthropic community based association established to provide an all-round assistance and support to rural communities in their endeavors to develop and expand educational opportunities and integrated rural community activities, without any discrimination based on religion, gender (sex) race or color.

KTMM is legally registered entity under Ministry of Justice of the Federal democratic Republic of Ethiopia and has received legal certificate to carry out the planned activities accordingly.

2. Program of KMM

o Provide free educational training for youths to create self-employment
o Support rural schools by providing necessary books, school facilities, laboratory equipments etc…
o Support rural health institutions to provide adequate service for the community in need.
o Create awareness an HIV/AIDS transmission and protection.
o Teach farmers how to produce better by protecting and conserving the environment
o Provide clean and adequate water for human and animals for the rural communities.
o Develop strong adherence in the mind of rural community, that the damage and destruction of environment is own devastation.

3. About KTMM’s Operational area

KTMM operates in Southern Nations Nationalities People Regional State in Kambata Tembaro (KT) zone. The zone is situated at about 350 km from Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia. KT zone has three agro climatic zones, cold, moderately cold and warm with an altitude range from 800 masl up to 3208 masl. The population of the area is over one million with about 1436 square kilometer area. The average population density of the area is 500 people/square kilometers where as the national average population density is 42 people /square kilometer.

Integrated approach for environmental degradation liked with poverty

The life of many rural communities is stricken by marginalized poverty. The effort of the community has to be supported in order to be able to produce self-sufficient food. Educating and supporting the endeavor of the community will sustain the development activities that are planned by NGOs and Donors. Therefore, KTMM has planned to intervene with emphasis in education, vocational training, environment, water, and health programs.

4. Why KTMM emphasizes on

4.1 Education?

Education is the source of knowledge enlighten mind, and enable to identify the cause and effect of problems. It is a ray which pin point and help to solve the problem.
#A king is worshipped in territory of his kingdom. Educated person is worshipped every where $. Therefore, KTMM try to create a person to be worshipped everywhere.

4.2 Vocational Training?

Almost there are over 30,000 youths in Kambat who have completed their secondary high school that have not able to join higher education and are job seeking. If these energetic forces are trained in different vocations they would help themselves, bring change to the community, and support their families. Vocational training is a means of livelihood to generate additional income. It is the base for invention and technology transmission. It is also a means for food security and poverty alleviation
.
4.3 Environment?

Damaged, destructed, and polluted environment promotes hostile conditions in human beings. Therefore, people have to use the environment prudently. Information currently released explicitly shows that the ices melting from the northern hemisphere, Italy Mountains, Mount Kilimanjaro are the indication of ecological unbalance. It is time for human being to think about his destination, the environment bell has gone alarming.

4.4 Health?

The ultimate goal of KTMM is to see that the community should be mentally, physically, psychologically, and environmentally healthy and self sufficient food producer. Only healthy community achieves that aspiration. HIV/HIDS is the threat and challenge of all the political parties, governments, and industry owners, developed world, developing world, social institutions and also an individual. The pandemic should be tackled from all corners in order to rescue the young generation perishing ignorantly. The depletion of the environmental resource is the impact of the pressure/population on the land. Hence, family planning training and programs has to be implemented in the zone.

4.5 Water?

Water resource management and environmental protection are the other side of the coin. Water problem issue has now become global issue. Clean and sufficient water for every life is compulsory. Kambata area is clearly identified by the Southern Region Water Resource Bureau that it is one of the areas suffering from water supply shortage. This envisages harvesting rain water from the roofs for drinking purpose and running water as a flood through the valleys from the hills and mountains for agricultural and ground water enriching purpose.

5. Currently existing environmental problems in the area

5.1 Environmental degradation

Hambaricho is one of the biggest mountains in Southern part of Ethiopia, which is about 3028 masl. Some forty years before, Hambarcho Mountain was habitation for wildlife such as lions, tigers, elephants, bear, baboons, hyena, boar, pigs, rabbits etc… and for birds such as woodpeckers, pigeon, thrush, owls, sparrows, cockatoos, vultures, eagles, crows etc… These days only hyenas and few birds can be seen, where as the others are almost vanished. Exotic plants such as eucalyptus, gravellia, acacia saligana, and acacia decurence has invaded the indigenous trees such as junipers, cordial africana, olea africana, hygenia abyssinica, euphorbia, which have tremendous impact on adding fertility to the soil, serving as medicine herbs and balancing the ecology,

5.2 Effect of encroachment of Hambaricho Mountain

Hambaricho Mountain, which was a source of water for the people in and around Kambata has now become a scourge for the community through its encroachment by tilling due to land scarcity. The result of encroachment has manifested by:
huge gullies, which impede social life of the community from going to schools, market places, health institutions, religious areas.
soil erosion affecting the communities living at the lower area of Hambaricho mountain by silting rocks, basalts on their farms and some times demolishing the grass hat of the poor during the rainy season.
water resources are depletion. Rivers such as Satame, Azga, Shupa, Shapa, Markosa, Farakas, Funamura, which were running under the foot of Ambaricho mountain are now turned into dry basins. This is the concern of KTMM how to bring back Hambaricho Mountain to its normal position.
KTMM needs the consultation and assistance of international community.

6. Strategies how to alleviate the escalating situation

o Sensitization and awareness creation work shop on environment degradation and its impact for community, schools, government institutions, local institutions.
o Train extension workers, students, and community elders about the principle of permaculture.
o Organize permaculture clubs in schools and youths associations.
o Identify areas to be planted and preserved on Hambaricho Mountain.
o Work jointly with government and local community on environmental rehabilitation.
o Organize and form rural artisans and crafts cooperatives.
o Offer training for rural artisans and crafts how to produce quality products
o Train unemployed youths in crafts to create self-employment and to generate income.
o Provide micro-credit for those who formed cooperatives.
o Provide micro-credit for those newly crafts trained groups.
o Introduce appropriate alternative technologies which assist environmental conservation and proper usage of natural resources.

7. Available crafts in KTMM operational area.

7.1 Black-smiths (Tuamnos)

Without blacksmiths (Tumanos) Kambata people would have been left with out meals. Tuamnos produce different kinds of tools

Agricultural tools Cutting tools Defense tools
Plough tips Knives Spears
Sickles Hatchets
Flat hoes Choppers
Shovels/Spades Axe

7.2 Pottery makers (Fuggas)

No other group or clan can make clay products other than “Fugas”, who are socially segregated and discriminated. They produce clay products used for cooking, drinking, boiling, storage, and decoration. For example, bowls, griddles, jars, pans, cups, plates etc… Except Fugas no one has skill of making kitchen utensils.

7.3 Tannery makers

These groups smoothen and process hide and skin of animals for domestic purpose, such as sacks, mats, beddings, shield, horse saddles, and drum covers.

7.4 Carpentry

Carpentry groups can be from any social group of Kambata community. There is no discrimination of being carpenter in Kambata. Products of carpentry are widows, door, tables, chairs, coffin, shelves, boxes, trenchers, house construction, etc…

7.5 Other crafts

There are different kinds of crafts being performed in Kambata community. They produce different types of products. For example weaving, knitting, embroidery, basket, etc…

Conclusion

Equipping rural artisans and crafts with compatible vocational training and micro-credit provision has significant impact on addressing environmental problems issues. If this proposal is materialized, the out come will be:
1. the swollen poverty will be flatten
2. the pressure on the farming hills will be certainly minimized
3. Job seeking youths will be competent with the technology
4. the ecological balance will be maintained
5. Hambaricho Mountain will be rehabilitated
6. Dry basins will be river courses
7. Gullies and gorges will grow bushes and trees
8. Lost indigenous trees will come up from the womb of mother earth
9.
10.

Heading Out!

2007-04-20T17:09:00.000+03:00

Well then folks, getting back to the present, and back to reality (for now), I’m gonna talk very briefly about some of my more immediate plans. It may look like I’m off to Africa to preach at grandmothers about how to suck eggs. But it's not not so. What I’m off to do is to learn as much as I can from as many different people as possible and then, with a good bit of help from various other people put together a system where by we can facilitate knowledge sharing between all of them. There are already various projects going on in Ethiopia some of which are under the banner of permaculture and others which follow a similar methodology and ideology. I have been in contact with one man called Leykun Zerihun (a wonderful name!) who I came across on the Australian Institute of Permaculture website. He is helping to establish a permaculture project in the lowland Afar region, which is in the north-eastern part of the country, bordering Eritrea and Djibouti. This man seems to feel that I will be able to help them, and indeed I am keen to do so but I will obviously have much more to learn than to teach at this stage. Afar is a region which is suffering as much, or more, than any in Ethiopia. To begin with t is very arid, but the region has also suffered due to establishment of state borders and the wars that accompanied that process between Eritrea and Ethiopia, with many of the pastoralists cut off from traditional seasonal pastures, now in Eritrea.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/AllDocsByUNID/a55845b9746369cbc1256c7500413a66

Another problem that affects the traditional way of life is the invasion of the “devil tree” (Prosopis jubiflora). This is an aggressive pioneer species which establishes itself in bare ground. This does not seem like a bad thing in and of itself. In fact we should be looking for such species to begin the process of ecological succession back towards a functional ecosystem on degraded land. However this species is extremely unyielding; it makes poor forage and has long spines on it which injure both stock and herders, interrupting the acess of herds to watering areas and taking over pasture-lands till they are un-usable, making it necessary to move further a field;

More info on Prosopis jubiflora in Afar:
http://www.geocities.com/akababi/hailu1.htm
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/pdfs/international_programme/Ethiopia%20policy%20brief.pdf
http://www.gisp.org/whatsnew/shownews.asp?id=207&MyMenuItem=news&worldmap=&country=

In permaculture there is a principal saying that every “problem” is, in fact, a solution to another “problem”. Thus we would not be inclined to see such plants as this one as necessarily bad. In fact Prosopis is clearly nature’s response to another problem – over grazing. The people of the area have over-exploited the natural resource of indigenous vegetation and consequently a plant which can protect itself from grazing has moved into the area and proliferated. The question now is not just “how can we get rid of it?” But we should be asking; “why is it here?”, “what can we do with it?” and “what can it do for us?” Prosopis is a coloniser. In ecological succession colonisers perform a function: they transform the habitat they colonise from a highly intolerable one, making it more amenable to invasion by other species. Usually these other species can easily displace the coloniser once they have a foot-hold. It will be important to bear this in mind when considering how best to handle the Prosopis in permaculture systems. Which other plants grow well around Prosopis? Which plants displace it or prevent it from invading a certain area? How can we encourage it’s displacement by more favourable species? And so on…

As well as the Afar project, I hope to visit the Biofarm Enterprise in Addis Ababa. This is a large and well established project run in association with Addis Ababa University and has acquired funding from the UNDP. They are working with a range of appropriate technologies and holistic systems management techniques for agriculture, and it has been said that their system effectively amounts to permaculture, although it goes under a different name. They offer training to rural farmers in various skills and techniques such as small scale biogas production and modern apiculture techniques as well as knowledge and cultivation of traditional medicinal plants. They have apparently already established extension projects around the country. I would hope to be able to learn a lot from this organisation and make some very useful contacts here for the future.

More info on The Biofarm Enterprise:
http://www.fredskorpset.no/templates/FredskorpsDagbok____23758.aspx
http://www.who.int/multimedia/ethiopiaweb/BIOFARM_TRADMEDICINE/index.html
http://www.new-agri.co.uk/03-3/develop/dev01.html
http://www.care.org/careswork/projects/eth050.asp

Potentially I would also like to visit a community up in the elevated highland region of Adjibar. A permaculture design course was given here in 2000 by the Southern Cross Permaculture Institute. A visit to the community to see if/how they have absorbed and adapted the system would be an interesting prospect indeed.

More info on the Southern Cross in Adjibar:
http://www.southerncrosspermaculture.com.au/adjibar-assessment.html

Finally another place to visit would be to the major coffee producing region of Sidamo in the southern rift valley. This would be most fascinating in order to learn about more about traditional techniques of coffee production. The importance of Coffee to the Ethiopian economy cannot be overstated, as could oil to the Saudi economy. Coffee cultivation in Ethiopia is done under four systems, one of which, forest coffee production, is simply a means of ecosystem management and sustainably yields a lively-hood for people from a highly diverse forest ecosystem. Threats mode of production have emerged in recent years (please see post no. 1), consequently it would be desirable to learn as much about coffee production as possible while the opportunity to do so is still there.

The next post in this blogg shall be posted in the sacred kingdom of Ras Teffari! Jah Selassi. Zion is in Africa!

More information on Coffee production in Ethiopia:

- from: http://www.treecrops.org/country/ethiopia_coffee.htm

Ethiopia is the only producing country in Africa with a traditional coffee drinking culture. This tradition is reflected in the Coffee Ceremony, a daily ritual performed by native Ethiopian women. Village women gather in one of the neighbor's homes to share news and nourish friendships. More than just a coffee break, the ceremony is an expression of respect to elders and represents a spiritual time of day to give thanks for the blessings of life.

Legend traces the discovery of coffee back to the 3rd century when Kaldi, an Ethiopian goatherd, noticed his goats, having eaten red cherries growing wild on shrubs, were bleating and kicking their heels with charged levels of energy. Kaldi shared his discovery with monks, who soon found that consuming the berries helped them stay awake during long hours of prayer. Although the discovery date is clouded in mystery, connoisseur and historians agree that Ethiopia comprises the soul for coffee production throughout the world. Chosen by nature, arabica coffee has been growing wild in the Ethiopian forests for thousands of years. Man came into the picture as a cultivator approximately in the 15th century. Arabica coffee, which is the only species produced in Ethiopia, was distributed to the rest of the world by nomads, who wrapped the beans in fat, chewing them for energy and sustenance on their adventures throughout Africa and the Middle East.

Settled agriculture began in Ethiopia some 2,000 years ago. Since time immemorial, coffee arabica has been grown in the wild forests of the south-western massive highlands of the Kaffa and Buno districts of the country. Ethiopia is the primary centre of origin and genetic diversity of the Arabica coffee plant (Jasminum arabicum laurifolia).

There are four types of production system in Ethiopia: forest coffee, semi-forest coffee, garden coffee and plantation coffee. Ninety-five per cent of the coffee produced under these systems is organic.Forest coffee is found in south and south-western Ethiopia. These are the centers of origin of coffee arabica.

Forest coffee is self-sown and grown under the full coverage of natural forest trees, and has a wide diversity for selection and breeding for disease resistance. It offers high yields and top-quality aroma and flavor. Forest coffee accounts for about 10 per cent of Ethiopia's total coffee production.
Semi-Forest Coffee. This production system is also found in the south and south-western parts of the country. Farmers acquire forest land for coffee farms, and then thin and select the forest trees to ensure both adequate sunlight and proper shade for the coffee trees. They slash the weeds once a year to facilitate the coffee bean harvest. Semi-forest coffee accounts for about 35 per cent of Ethiopia's total coffee production.
Garden coffee is grown in the vicinity of farmer's residences, mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the country. The coffee is planted at low densities, ranging from 1,000 to 1,800 trees per hectare, is mostly fertilized with organic waste and is intercropped with other crops. Currently, garden coffee accounts for about 35 per cent of Ethiopia's total coffee production but this is set to increase with the introduction of the system into south-west Ethiopia.
Plantation coffee includes that grown on plantations owned by the former state and some well-managed smallholder coffee farms. In this production system, recommended seedlings are used, and proper spacing, mulching, manuring, weeding, shade-regulation and pruning are practiced. Only state-owned plantations use chemical fertilizers and herbicides and this accounts for only about five per cent of total production. Well-managed smallholder coffee farms account for about 15 per cent of Ethiopia's total production.

Key Strategies for Drylands and some possibilities for the Ethiopian case

2007-04-19T18:53:00.000+03:00

As stated earlier, one of the longer term aims for this project would be to extend activities into the lowlands, hopefully helping to establish small community-based projects in different areas of the country. Establishing a permacutlure centre (with asociated eco-tourist-farm project) in the relatively favourable conditions of the highlands is a strategy for creating a money-generating base from which activities can be extended by training of key people from target communities, backed up by a system of micro-credit finance also followed up by consultation. Eventually a co-operation network could be established to share knowledge and trade resources between extension projects and other endevours going on under different initiatives. If this exists already then it will just be a case of linking up with it.

Ethiopia: Community based tourism essential to minimize food insecurity
http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/news/ethiopaecotourism.php

Extending permaculture into the lowlands is important due to more difficult conditions for the local populations there and the more extreme environemtal degradation. The Ethiopian lowlands are hotter and dryer than the highlands. They are also politically marginal as the ethnic groups which have always held most political power in Ethiopia are those living in the northern highlands of Amhara and Tigrai. Groups in various regions have been fighting the central government for independence at various different times. Investment by the government in those regions has tended to be lower hence infrastructure is of poorer quality (there are no asphalt roads). The harsher conditions mean that agriculture is less productive and there is greater food insecurity.

“According to FAO (1984 a) rainfall in Ethiopia is generally correlated with altitude. Middle and higher altitudes (above 1,500 metres) receive substantially greater falls than do the lowlands, except the lowlands in the west, where rainfall is high. Generally average annual rainfall of areas above 1,500 metres exceeds 900 mm. In the lowlands (below 1,500 metres) rainfall is erratic and averages below 600 mm. There is strong inter-annual variability of rainfall all over the country. Despite variable rainfall which makes agricultural planning difficult, a substantial proportion of the country gets enough rain for rainfed crop production (FAO, 1984b).”
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/Ethiopia/Ethiopia.htm

The low and erratic level of rainfall in the lowlands means that management of water-resources is a key priority here. Since the level of precipitation also limits the growth of grass and herbaceous ground-cover, there is a shorter growing season in the lowlands, hence a greater vulnerability of the land to over-grazing. As in the highlands, many of the societies are traditionally pastoral and nomadic or semi-nomadic. However the increasing population of people and livestock is putting more pressure on the land than it has had to deal with before and old practises are becoming unsustainable.

“In the lowlands the low rainfall produces inadequate, poor quality pastures; pastoralists mostly keep cattle for prestige so low livestock production is further aggravated by low off-take”

“The lowlands make up nearly 61 - 65 percent of the land-mass, and are the major nomadic pastoralist and agro-pastoralist areas. The topographic diversity of the country has resulted in the formation of a multitude of agro-ecological zones and sub zones with varied farming systems…”
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/Ethiopia/Ethiopia.htm

Dustbowl: A twister comes onto the pitch during a football game in Asosa (western lowlands, near the Sudan border)

The results of overgrazing, often accompanied by slash and burn techniques are all too familiar: loss of ground cover leads to exposure and loss of top-soil by wind and water erosion when it does rain, leading to loss of fertility and of absorbing capacity of the ground, which leads to a fall in water-tables and eventually desertification.

“Soil degradation is thus the most immediate environmental problem facing Ethiopia. The loss of soil, and the deterioration in fertility, moisture storage capacity, and structure of the remaining soils, all reduce the country's agricultural productivity. ” http://www.etff.org/Oldwebsite/badeg_def.htm

Regenerating degraded dry lands and improving the yield from them will necessitate a relative decline in the importance of live-stock to the production systems used in the ethiopian low-lands and a shift towards tree-based systems. Getting tree-based production established means actively directing the process of natural ecological succession towards climax communities which yield a high number of products for human nutrition and utility. Key priorities for initiating this process are soil building and water resource management. In fact the two go hand in hand. Retaining water on the land is essential to building new soils. The flow of water over the land surface is a major cause of soil erosion, so water flow must be interrupted to allow soil formation. On the other hand healthy soils absorb and hold onto water in the, ground where it will remain available for use by plants. Eroded land will not hold water, but allow it to run off.

Healthy soil is a living medium. It has an aerated structure, being composed of aggregates of mineral particles and humus bound together by gum-polysaccharides which are produced, broken down and constantly renewed by a teeming array of microscopic organisms – fungi, bacteria, nematodes, slime-molds and amoebae. The aggregate structure is further bound up by plant roots and riddled with the larger tunnels of worm, insects, centipedes, larvae and other soil life. In fact healthy soil is about 50% air. This porosity gives it the capacity to absorb water quickly, allowing it to percolate into the ground effectively, which means less or no surface run-off. The clay fraction of the soil, as well as the humic compounds in the organic fraction, allow top soil to hold onto water effectively, especially when shielded from the sun by living or dead surface cover. The presence of deep roots (notably of trees) which run down to the water table will direct water down into aquifers, as will the cavities left behind when such roots have died and rotted, even through hard pans of clay. The presence of living plants or leaf litter (mulch) on the surface of soil will further protect topsoil from splash erosion during heavy rain. So will the presence of a developed tree canopy over-head.

Compare the action of trees to that of cattle, which up-root plants removing surface cover, exposing it to the sun which dries it and kills microbial life. They also compact the soil, removing its ability to absorb and hold water.

Thus, re-generating degraded dry-lands means converting exposed, un-vegetated land which lacks topsoil or water retaining capacity into a productive agro-woodland where a range of species carry out numerous productive activities, while protecting the soil, catching and holding water in the ground, regulating ground temperature and preventing erosion. In order to mimic the natural process of ecological succession, we begin with pioneer species which tend to invade bare land, and will probably be readily available as they are the only things that can tolerate degrade environments. As they become established however, they will change the properties of the ground and create microclimates more amenable for colonisation by a range of other species. In this way the degraded land would naturally progress to become forest, but for the effects of continual overgrazing by livestock. What we aim to do is to manipulate which species are able to colonise and maximise their utility.

Key Strategies: For degraded dry-lands rehabilitation

- Grazing management
- Soil building and water resource management
- Tree-planting and poly-culture establishment

1) Grazing management

a) REFUGES: The key priority will be establish refuges from grazing animals in which natural ecological succession can commence. (http://www.etfrn.org/ETFRN/workshop/degradedlands/documents/synthesis_report/DLZ_3%20Ethiopia%20dry,%20ET%20fnl.pdf)

Livestock must be totally or partially excluded from such areas by planting living fences. Refuges are used to grow herb, shrub and tree species which provide fodder for animals (to be cut and fed) and products for man. Trees are most important as they will tend to continue growth in the dry season, when grasses have ceased growth. Food, fibre, fuel and non-timber-product producing species will be introduced into these lots. The yields from them can provide a number of products for alternative sources of income to livestock alone. They can also serve as foraging areas for bees, fowl and other small stock on a managed basis.

b) ROTATIONAL PULSE GRAZING: The system of rotational pulse grazing developed by Arthur Hollings (http://www.ellinghampress.co.uk/fordhall.php) in England may be an effective way to manage animal grazing and improve the quality and productivity pastureland at suitable stocking rates in Africa. This system makes use of the fact that the depth of plant-root growth correspond to their above the ground. Since much of microbial soil-life is intimately associated with plant roots (in the so called “rhizosphere”), having deeper roots means a greater depth of living top-soil.

In fact, in natural grass-land ecosystems, the patterns of migration for large herding herbivores, such as wilder-beast, mean that grasses are usually allowed to grow very tall before they are grazed down. When big herds arrive they are grazed very intensely for a short period and the herds move on. This means that the root mass below the soil has grown very deep. Once grazed, these roots will begin to die back, and as they decompose they provide plenty of organic material which forms humus and releases nutrients into the soil.

We can mimic this natural behaviour by confining cattle herds to a series of small pens, through which they are rotated rather than allowing them to range freely over large areas where they tend to nibble selectively at the longest grass around and keep it all at a short length with a consequently shallow root mass.

2) Soil building and water resource management

a) Swales: These are trough-bank earth-works, where-by a ditches are dug along contour across slopes in order to catch and hold surface run-off and allow it to percolate rather than run directly into the water-courses. Earth from the ditch is moved downhill to bank up its lower lip. Trees can be planted both on the bank – to bind it and protect it – or in the ditch – to encourage percolation and to shade the swale so reduce evaporation from the ground – according to the species. Swale volumes must be calculated according to maximum potential run-off so that they are not washed out during torrential down-pours, since most of the annual rainfall may come in a few short bursts. The areas between swales can be cropped or used for pasture if the slopes are shallow.

b) Wind-breaks: wind is a major factor leading to water-loss from arid soils. Multi-purpose wind-break species can be planted to create sheltered microclimates where humidity can remain higher to allow establishment of other desirable species.

c) Mulching: Soil will quickly dry out where it is exposed to the air. Life in the soil will then die, migrate or go dormant, making the soil vulnerable to structural decay and erosion. Keeping a layer of mulch (organic waste material) over the soil will protect its surface trapping in moisture, preventing wind or splash erosion and allowing biological activity to persist in dry periods.

How do we approach the problem of re-greening degraded dry-land? The most obvious answer is to cut back on live-stock and move to a tree-based agriculture. Animals can be kept in the system, but at reduced population density. The Bahia Drylands Permaculture project in Brazil has laid out a methodology for re-greening degraded drylands based on six simple steps:

d) KEYLINE (Wiki)

This refers to an ingenious system of land and water resource management (for pasture), developed by the Australian rancher PA Yoemans. To fully understand the system the reader should carefully refer to his own work in more detail.
[http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010125yeomans/010125toc.html (or see the wiki above)]

The Keyline system exploits naturally occurring patterns in landscape architecture to direct planning of land treatment to achieve two objectives:

1. Insure maximum absorption of water into the soil by spreading flow away from the valley centres and onto the ridges, which tend to dry out faster. This is done through treating land with a chisel plough running furrows parallel to the keyline. This is a contour line which runs through the keypoint in each primary valley in the landscape profile. The keypoint is the highest point in the primary valley where a rivulet starts to for and invariably the contour passing through it has a kinked shape, making it more pointed that those above or below it. As a result, furrows running parallel to this contour (the keyline) tend to slope down towards the ridges of the valley when they are se above or below the keyline (though the keyline itself is a plum contour).

2. To catch excess water which flows over the land and to store it as high up as possible in the landscape profile so that maximum use of gravitational energy can be made to direct it to where it will be used for irrigation during dry periods. This is done by constructing storage dams at the keypoint of each primary valley. Keypoints also tend to rise with the profile of the land. Canals for shifting excess water from higher to lower valleys can be constructed so that overflow from higher dams does not descend down a valley losing lots of height, but is run around to adjacent valley where the next keypoint falls only a meter or two. In this way the energy requirements for pumping water are minimised as all water is held at the highest possible situation and can be directed by gravitational energy. Thus irrigation systems can be run with very little external energy input.

Devising a System

These techniques will be key tools for permaculture systems which aim to regenerate degraded dry-lands. For an indication of just how effective they can be for re-greening even the harshest desert environments with very little energy input, watch this video: http://abc.net.au/backyard/flash/Permaculture_flash.htm

The aim is to effect a managed transition of the landscape, over some years, from degraded scrubland to a patchwork of managed pasture and diverse agro-forestry lots, which produce a range of products; fruits, seeds, honey, dry-season fodder, fuel for cooking, forage for foul and medicine for people. Such systems have been successfully devised and applied in other areas of the world such as the Polyculture Project of the Bahian Permaculture Institute in the dry-lands of Brazil:
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/mm.asp?nolinks=y&mmfile=news_drylands

In planning the composition of a poly-cultural agro-forestry system priority should be given to indigenous and locally available species. An inventory of species and their ecological characteristics should be made, including their physical and biological requirements, their effects on other plants and their potential uses for creating favourable micro-climates as well as, of course the products they can yield. A quick look at some of the species present in the Ethiopian lowlands will give some rough indications of what could be included in lowland arboreal poly-cultures.

“In the lowlands (below 1,500 metres) rainfall is erratic and averages below 600 mm. There is strong inter-annual variability of rainfall all over the country. Despite variable rainfall which makes agricultural planning difficult, a substantial proportion of the country gets enough rain for rainfed crop production (FAO, 1984b).

The arid zone plains are bushed grassland, except some patches of woodland. The Rift Valley and escarpments are covered by wooded grassland. Crop production is only along rivers (irrigated state farms). Cotton, maize and sorghum are the dominant annual crops, among the perennials are citrus, banana, and mango. Stock rearing (goat, sheep, camel and cattle) is the major land use. Dominant trees and shrubs include: Prosopis juliflora, Tamarix aphylla, Calotropis procera, Parkinsonia aculeata, Balanites aegypitiaca, Dodonaea angustifolia, Rumex nervosus, Acacia spp., Combretum molle, Azadirachta indica, Salix subserrata, Carissa edulis, Tamarindus indica, and Euclea schimepri. Among wildlife wild-ass, zebra, duiker, lion, leopard and ostrich are known to exist. Nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralism is the common livestock production system in the arid zones.

The semiarid zone (400 – 2,200 metres) has mean annual rainfall of 300 – 800 mm; PET ranges between 1,900 to 2,100 mm, and a growing period of 46 – 60 days. Hilly areas and stony terrain are under wooded grassland or bush grassland; flat land is under rainfed crops (often mechanized). Extensive grazing is the major land use and cattle, goats, sheep, and donkey are the major stock. Trees include: Boswellia papyrifera, Acacia seyal, Acacia senegal, Acacia nilotica, Ziziphus spp., Diospyros mespiliformis, and Balanites aegyptiaca. Common wildlife are: reticulated giraffe; Grant’s gazelle; oryx; Burchell’s zebra; waterbuck; elephant; lion; duiker; greater kudu, lesser kudu and buffalo.”
http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/Ethiopia/Ethiopia.htm

Regarding species in the arid zone, Tamarix aphylla is used for windbreaks in other places such as Jordan. It has an aggressive roots may destroy pavements (not a worry in most of Africa) http://www.csbe.org/water_conserving_landscapes/plant_lists/trees/tamarix-aphylla.htm It is also known to exude salts from its leaves which may degrade soil, so care should be taken over where it is placed.
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/moredocs/tamaph01.pdf

Calotropis procera is known as giant milkweed in English. It is a hardy colonist with a toxic latex sap. “Its tissues, especially the root bark, are used to treat a variety of illness including leprosy, fever, menorrhagia, malaria, and snake bite (Parrotta 2001). The latex is toxic and can cause blisters and rash in sensitive persons. The plant is occasionally grown as an ornamental in dry or coastal areas because it is handsome, of a convenient size, and is easy to propagate and manage. It is recommended as a host plant for butterflies (Mikula 2001). In the past, the silky hairs were used to stuff pillows (Little and others 1974).” http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Calotropis%20procera.pdf
“Medicinally, the acrid sap latex is used to treat boils, infected wounds and other skin problems in people, and to treat parasitic skin infestations in animals. It also yields ash for making gunpowder, and extremely strong fiber.” https://www.herbsociety.org/promplant/cprocera.php

Parkinsonia aculeate [Fabaceae], is a legume tree with a wide distribution, also found in the southern US, where the American native knew it as Retama.

“Bright yellow blooms cover this tree in early May [giving it potential for bee forage]. Retama is semi-deciduous, shedding its leaves during harsh winters or very dry spells. The green stems are photosynthetic and fill in during the time the plant is leafless. Native Americans enjoyed eating the seeds of Retama. They were dried in the sun for storage and later parched over dry heat before consumption.” http://www.zombiejuice.com/weedsworth/plants/fabaceae/Parkinsonia_aculeata.html

Balanites aegyptiaca is called the desert date in English:

“The fruit pulp though bitter, is edible. It produces fruit even in dry years which makes it a highly appreciated food source in dry areas. Pounded fruits make a refreshing drink which becomes alcoholic if left to ferment.

The fruits have been used in the treatment of liver and spleen diseases. The fruit is also known to kill the snails which carry schistosomiasis and bilharzia flukes (Tredgold 1986). The roots are used for abdominal pains and as a purgative. Gum from the wood is mixed with maize meal porridge to treat chest complaints.”

B. aegyptiaca has fine-grained dense and heavy heartwood, it is easily worked and takes a good polish. Although valued for furniture it may be twisted and difficult to saw. The wood is durable and resistant to insects making it good for tool handles and domestic items such as spoons.

Root cuttings readily form a live fence. Protein rich leaves and shoots are an excellent source of fodder. The leaves make very good mulch and the tree is nitrogen fixing, it is also valued as firewood since it produces almost no smoke and has a calorific value of 4600 kcal per kg (Webb 1984).”
http://www.fao.org/docrep/X5327e/x5327e0m.htm

Rumex nervosus has traditional uses in medicine:
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/y1515b/y1515b15.htm

Combretum molle: "A root decoction is use to treat abdominal pains and sterility (Chhabra et al. 1984). It is used to treat hookworms, stomach pains, snakebites, leprosy fever, and general body swelling (Rulangaranga 1989). It is regarded as a medicine for both humans and animals.

The sweetly scented flowers attract insects including honey bees.

The wood is hard and used for building posts, poles, tool handles, and in construction. It is also termite resistant."
http://www.fao.org/docrep/X5327E/x5327e0r.htm

Azadirachta indica or Neem, is a fascinating multipurpose tree that originated in the Indian sub continent. It produces large quantities of oil in its seeds as well as numerous chemicals in its tissues with insecticidal and medicinal applications. It is also extremely drought tolerant and fast growing, which makes it of great potential value for incorporation into dryland polyculture systems:

“Neem seed cake (residues of oil extraction), when used for soil amendment or added to urea or ammonia containing fertilizer, not only enriches the soil with organic matter but also lowers nitrogen losses by inhibiting nitrification. In addition, some nematicidal properties have been reported.

Neem oil - at a concentration of 2-4ml/kg - can protect stored beans against the bruchid (Callosobruchus maculatus), which is a worldwide serious storage pests worldwide. Protection lasts for at least a period of six months. Good results against pests of stored cereals (wheat, maize, sorghum) were also obtained.

A tea prepared of leaves is used traditionally to reduce fever caused by malaria, etc. This tea is extremely bitter.

Dr. V. P. Sharma, Director of the Malaria Research Centre in New Delhi, says the repellent is particularly effective against the Anopheles mosquito which spreads malaria. When the preparation is applied to the body, mosquitoes are effectively repelled. Low-cost neem oil is mixed with coconut oil in concentrations of 1-2%.”

Neem can also be used to control termites and scabies. See this article for more detailed information: http://www.echotech.org/technical/technotes/Neem.PDF

Carissa edulis (Appocynaceae) is also called the Natal Plum. “The fruit or berries are edible. The rounded berry, about half an inch long is green and rich in latex when unripe. As it ripens, the smooth skin turns to a purple-black. The flesh is tender, very juicy, although a bit sour and tastes like unripe cherries.”

Tamarindus indica: “Tamarind is a large, beautiful evergreen tropical tree that can grow up to 75' tall. The trunk has cracks, down and across; the bark is brown-grey. It has a dense and spreading crown of bipinnate foliage and numerous yellow, with red and purple filaments, flowers.The brown woody pod contains the seeds; black, shiny squares surrounded by pulp. Tamarind is a slow grower but can live and still remains productive for 150 years or longer! It has a very deep and extensive root system, so it is not prone to come down easily and can withstand very strong wind and even hurricanes. The pulp of tamarind is light brownish-red; sweetish acidic and edible. The fruitpulp is rich in tartaric - and citric acids, high amount of vitamin C and sugar. The fruit pulp is used in syrup, juice concentrates and exotic food specialities like chutney, curries, pickles and meat sauces. It is an ingredient in cardiac and bloodsugar reducing medicine. Medical actions and uses: cathartic, astringent, febrifuge, antiseptic, refrigerant. In Suriname's traditional medicine, the bark is used for diarrhea. Bathing with an infusion of the boiled leaves helps against skin disorders, such as scabies." http://www.tropilab.com/tamaridus-ind.html

As for non wild species which are currently present in arid areas (below 400m altitude) in Ethiopia, mentioned above are Citrus, Banana and Mango.

I have witnessed mango growing in the Ethiopian lowlands and the trees seemed to be very hardy, yielding large quantities of incredibly sweet juicy fruit even in extremely hot and dry conditions. The trees also put down a thick carpet of tough leathery leaves over the ground below them, which acts as a fantastic mulch to protect the soil from erosion, maintain biological activity and hold moisture there-in. The leaves did not seem to be eaten by stock, so would make an ideal mulch (assuming they do not have allopathic effects) and possibly provide material for use in composting as well as a source of mulch. As well as yielding fruit which can be eaten fresh, sun-dried for storage or be processed into juice, jam or chutney (or perhaps pulped and mixed with honey) fairly easily. As well as the nutritional value of the fruit there are various potential uses for the mango tree:

“Mango is an excellent depurative for the organism and it is recommended for nervous people, to fight insomnia, to heal brain fatigue, mental depression and as a laxative, besides it is very helpful to fight heartburn. It has excellent results when used to eliminate kidney sand and to assist digestion. Mangos beyond being delicious and rich in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, contain an enzyme with stomach soothing properties. Mangos are an excellent source of Vitamins A and C, as well as a good source of Potassium and contain beta-carotene. Mangoes are high in fibre, but low in calories (approx. 110 per average sized mango) fat (only 1 g) and sodium. Mangoes are a good staple for your daily diet.

Mango kernel contains high amounts of fat and starch. The oil extracted from kernel is of good quality and could be used in cosmetic and soap industries. The kernel flour (starch) after mixing with wheat or maize flour is used in chapaties in India. About ten per cent alcohol could be obtained from mango kernel by co-culture fermentation.”

http://www.business-ethiopia.com/southern-portfolio/index.html#potential

With regards to the "semi-arid zone“ (400-2200m altitude) species present include: Boswellia papyrifera, Acacia seyal, Acacia senegal, Acacia nilotica, Ziziphus spp., Diospyros mespiliformis, and Balanites aegyptiaca.

Boswellia papyrifera is the frankinsense tree. Frankinsense in an important product both for the domestic and international markets, though it is usually collected from the wild. Wild populations of the tree are now suffering due to land degradation and destruction by live-stock, so improving techniques for cultivating this tree could be econopmically beneficial.

More info: http://www.tropentag.de/2002/abstracts/full/160.pdf

Acacia Senegal is the tree which produces gum-arabic. Accacias are leguimes so are nitrogen fixing trees. Studies which have looked at intercropping A. senegal with sorghum and sesame have indicated that it increases the availability of phosphorus in the soil. This is of importance since Ethiopian soils are known to be generally phosphate deficient.

see: http://www.mm.helsinki.fi/mmeko/vitri/Raddad_intro.pdf

“Gum arabic is used in the food industry to fix flavours and as an emulsifier, to prevent the crystalization of sugar in confectionery products, as a stabilizer in frozen dairy products; its viscosity and adhesive properties find use in bakery products, and as a foam stabilizer and clouding agent in beer. In the pharmaceutical industry gum arabic is used as a stabilizer for emulsions, binder and coating for tablets, and as an ingredient in cough drops and syrups. In cosmetics it finds use as an adhesive for facial masks and powders, and to give a smooth feel to lotions.

Industrially, gum arabic is applied as an adhesive, as a protective colloid and safeguarding agent for inks, sensitizer for lithographic plates, coatings for special papers, sizing agent to give body to certain fabrics, and anti-corrosive coating for metals; it is also used in the manufacture of matches and ceramic pottery (Cossalter, 1991).

Gum arabic is a major export crop of the Sudan and, through the Gum Arabic Company, which has a statutory monopoly of the gum arabic trade from the Sudan, effectively controls about 85% of the World Market, with the West African countries Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger and Nigeria supplying much of the remainder (Anderson, 1993).”
http://www.fao.org/docrep/V5360E/v5360e07.htm

Acacia nilotica and A. seyal are also present in the semi-arid regions. The importance of acacias as indigenous nitrogen fixing trees cannot be overstated. They are useful for their wood, both as fuel and for construction material. They may also provide nitrogen rich forage (both the foliage and seed pods may be edible to stock such as goats). Some species can withstand heavy browsing or coppicing. Being leguimes they are likely also to provide good forage for bees. The pods of A. nilotica also provide a source of tannins which are used in leather production:

“The exploitation of tannins from Acacia species is effected in many locations; in Senegal, Mauritania and Mali, the pods of Acacia nilotica subsp. nilotica are intensively used under the name 'Nep Nep'; also in the Sudan as 'sunt grains'. Sunt grains, which were formerly exported from the Sudan, are obtained mainly from the crushed pods of A. nilotica subsp. nilotica or subsp. tomentosa, after first removing the seeds; most of the pod cases are then removed by sifting. The residue contains 50-60% tannin, which gives a soft, plump, very light coloured leather.”
http://www.fao.org/docrep/V5360E/v5360e07.htm

Diospyros mespiliformis (ID) is also known as jackal berry. It’s fruits can be; “eaten fresh or preserved. Dried fruits are sometimes ground into flour. Seeds are eaten as nuts. Fruits are often used to brew beer or fermented for wine. Fruit and plant parts contain tannin.”
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/jackal_berry.htm

“It likes to grow near termite mounds. “In heavy soils the termite mounds provide the tree with aerated soil, and a source of moisture. The roots provide protection for the termites, who don't eat the living wood. Jackalberry wood is almost termite-resistant after it has been cut down.”
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/jackalberry_tree.htm

“The leaves are used to treat fever, as wound dressings, and as a poison antidote. The bark and roots are used for diseases such as malaria, syphilis, and leprosy. Different parts of the tree are also used to treat headaches, toothaches, and other body pains.

Produces black heartwood 'ebony'. Only a few trees yield this black wood after felling, which is pale at first and then gradually becomes dark brown. The wood is hard, strong, fine-grained and is fungus and termite resistant (RSCU 1992). It is used in making tool handles, gun stocks, furniture, and carvings.”
http://www.fao.org/docrep/X5327e/x5327e0z.htm

Balanites aegyptiaca: See above

In the next posts I hope to discuss some of what appear to be key issues in the relationship between Ethiopians and the environment that surrounds them, in particular I would like to consider the invasive plant Prosopis jubiflora which has moved into and proliferated across the Afar region (as well as possibly elsewhere) much to the detriment of the pastoralists of Afar, since it frequently injures their animals making it necessary that they avoid it, meaning that they must move further in search of pastures. Another plant I would like to consider is Eucalyptus. This is grown extensively in plantations in the highlands as a source of fuel and timber. However it is an allopathic plant which toxifies the soil it grows on, retarding the growth of other plants around it. As well as this I will discuss some of my immediate plans for when I arrive in Ethiopia on 21/04/07.

See you there. 'Gzabier yawkal, Jah yammasagen!!!

Some Possibilties and Priorities for Ethiopian Permaculture Systems

2007-04-07T11:57:00.000+03:00

Establishing a project

How does one approach the task of spreading permaculture in Ethiopia?

Clearly it is necessary to establish a permaculture project as a site for demonstrating principals and techniques to the uninitiated; a place where people can come to participate, exchange ideas and learn new concepts. I envision a project in which Ethiopians and foreigners live and work side by side, where their different approaches and backgrounds will allow them to learn from each other. I would also like to bring in experienced permaculture practitioners in to start teaching design courses. These would be offered both to foreigners and Ethiopians, but the foreigners would pay a fee which would cover the cost for a certain number of Ethiopians to take the course along-side them.

As I’ve said before, the first priority for any project is funding. So the idea will be to integrate the farm into an eco-tourism (or agro-tourism) business. I’m going down the market route to fund the project because I see the private sector as the most effective way to establish it on a relatively small starting budget. The plan is to offer accommodation to tourists and introduce them to all aspects of Ethiopian culture such as music and food, facilitate language learning, arrange local and inter-regional excursions and facilitate voluntary placements in local schools. I would like to build using traditional and local techniques where possible as well as introducing other sustainable techniques if and where appropriate. A restaurant will serve traditional dishes and drinks (such as coffee and t’ejj – honey whine) which are made from produce of the farm. We can also include a café and bar, probably with a reggae vibe to it. We could stage performances of traditional Ethiopian music as well as reggae music from some of the Rastafarians who have come to Ethiopia. Musical events would be a good way to get the local youth interested in the project.

It may be argued that tourism is an energy hungry industry, relying on long haul fights which use a lot of fossil fuels. Ideally therefore we would be focusing more on over-land tourists (perhaps even overland tour groups, of which there are many) as well as domestic tourism as the main markets. Many of the visitors to Ethiopia are returning ex-pats who have been living in rich countries and since these people are people who would have already flown to Ethiopia, then taking them as customers would be desirable. Ideally the clientele would be a good mix of Ethiopians, Europeans, Asians and possibly Caribbean people, making it a diverse and interesting place for all.

Carbonfootprint.com

The project will use alternative energy systems and other forms of locally built and appropriate technology (http://www.tekio.net/library/introduction.html). We will experiment with building wind generators, biogas production, solar cookers, solar water heaters, rainwater collection, ram pumping and irrigation systems (lack of irrigation is a major problem for Ethiopian agriculture) and so on. In this way we hope to develop low tech and reproducible solutions to the problems faced by the rural poor in the region.

It should be made clear that the hospitality side of the project is of secondary importance, as far as I am concerned, and it is there to serve the wider aim of spreading permaculture. If the project can be successfully established, we can begin to offer Permaculture Design Courses (PDC) to foreigners, locals and, most importantly, people from other regions of Ethiopia, especially the lowlands. The fees from foreign design-course students would fund Ethiopians to take design courses along-side them. Training up lowlanders will allow us to begin extension projects. Obviously however, the problems faced by rural Ethiopians are not just conceptual! There is a lack of funds for investment, so training will have to be backed up by a micro-credit system. Extending into the lowlands, where the conditions are harder and the people poorer will be a key priority for helping people.

The Proposed Site for the Project

The region where I currently propose to set up the initial project is Amhara, the Abyssinian heartland in the Ethiopian in the highlands. There are good climactic conditions there, with plenty of rain and a nice temperature range, so it should be an easier place to get established with agriculture. There are some natural coffee producing forests in the area which are worked traditionally as poly-culture systems. This will be very interesting to learn more about.

The site will be near Bahir Dar, which is at 1783m altitude on the edge of Lake Tana. This is Ethiopia’s largest lake. The town is also near to the source of the Blue Nile (known as The Abbay in Ethiopia) which emerges from the Lake. A site on either the lake shore or river-bank could be chosen. There is also reasonable infrastructure in this part of the country. Addis Ababa can be reached in less than a day from there on a good asphalt road. It is also on the standard tourist trail for visitors to Ethiopia, which rings the northern highlands, taking in most of the monuments of the ancient Abyssinian civilisation; Gondar, Axum, Lalibella etc. It is also on the Cairo to Cape Town trail which has a lot of backpackers, cycle maniacs, and other random adventurers as well as overland tours passing along it. The idea is to catch these people and get them to contribute financially to the undertaking.

For more info on Bahir Dar and interesting sites in the area:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahir_Dar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abay_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ethiopia#Judaic_Ethiopia

Some Possibilities and Priorities for an Ethiopian permaculture Systems in Ethiopia

Highlands

Permaculture design is tailored specifically to the site on the basis of careful observation, assessment and contemplation, so cannot be cooked up out of context. However, it may be useful (and interesting) to start considering what species might be available to incorporate into systems and what techniques are going to be applicable over there.

The following is an ecological assessment of the region around the proposed site which gives some good material to chew over:

“Lake Tana is in the north-west corner of the Ethiopian plateau, c.350 km north-west of Addis Ababa. The Lake is the largest in Ethiopia, being c.68 km wide and 73 km long, but only a maximum of 14 m deep. There are 37 islands in the Lake, many of them sites for ancient churches and monasteries, others supporting large colonies of birds. Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara Region, is on the southern shore of the lake where the Abbay (Blue Nile) river flows out. The Lake Tana basin has a catchment of 150,000 km². It is fed by over 60 rivers (the major ones are the Gilgel Abbay, Megech, Gumara and Rib) and streams flowing from the Simen mountains to the north, the large central plateau to the east and the gentler sloping land to the west. The variation in annual water-level is c.1.6 m. The major habitats around Lake Tana are farmland, grassland, forest, rocky areas, marsh, reedbeds and the lake itself. Water retention is high, making the area prone to inundation. The Bahir Dar area is particularly well known for oil crops and Carthamus tinctorius. The flat land, particularly where water lies in the rainy season, is grassland with a mixture of palatable indigenous grasses and legumes. The marshes support a variety of grasses, sedges and climbers. The mixed forests comprise figs, Syzygium guineense, Cordia africana, Albizia spp., Prunus africana and the endemic Millettia ferruginea as common trees, a well-developed shrub layer and woody climbers. Huge figs, Ficus vasta, are also found as isolated trees in farmland and on the lake shore. The Zege peninsula is home to a distinctive coffee variety that grows in the shade of Acacia and Millettia ferruginea trees. One of the most striking features of Lake Tana is the extensive Papyrus beds from which the local boats, ‘tankwa’, are made. Other large plants in the reedbeds are Typha, Echinochloa spp. grasses and Polygonum. Several aquatic plants, including Nymphaea coerulea, are noticeable. Fortunately, the invasive Eichhornia crassipes is not present. The human population of Bahir Dar is growing quickly as the city develops, now having two institutes of tertiary education and a large school-age population. Farming and fishing are the most common occupations outside the town and there are many priests, monks and nuns associated with the churches around the lake and on several of the larger islands.”

Source: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sites/index.html?action=SitHTMDetails.asp&sid=6241&m=0

It can be seen from this description that a number of potentially useful species are already being cultivated or growing wild in the area:

Carthamus tinctorius, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthamus_tinctorius) is known as safflower in English. It is usually grown as an oil crop but has multiple potential uses, which makes interesting for a permaculture system. Its flowers have been used to make dyes and may substitute for saffron in cooking. As well as yielding oil its seeds can be used as animal feed. Tender shoots can be eaten as a salad vegetable and the plant stems can also be used as animal fodder.

More info on safflower here: http://nariphaltan.virtualave.net/safflower.htm

As for the tree species mentioned, Albizia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albizia) and Millettia ferruginea are both legume trees which fix nitrogen, so could potentially be incorporated into agro-forestry or used in alley cropping.

“Alley cropping integrates hedgerows of nitrogen fixing trees (NFTs) or other fast-growing plants with crop rows. The space between the NFT hedgerows where the crops are grown are called “alleys”, hence the name. The NFT hedgerows are managed to provide a readily available on-site source of leafy organic matter. The organic matter is used as nutrient-rich mulch and fertilizer for the crops.”

See these articles for more info on alley-cropping with NFTs: http://www.agroforestry.net/pubs/oachbk.pdf
http://www.agroforestry.net/pubs/nftguide.pdf

In fact: “Growing agricultural crops under Millettia ferruginea (Hochst.) Baker, a tree that is endemic to Ethiopia, is an age-old practice in the country… Nutrient levels declined with depth and increasing distances from the tree trunk… Maize plants grown on soils collected from underneath Millettia trees resulted in significantly better growth responses and higher dry matter yield as compared to the control (P <> [Source]

Prunus africana, the African cherry, is another tree naturally present the area of Lake Tana. It’s bark has been used in traditional medicine in Africa and it is coming under threat in some areas Afromontane forest areas, such as Cameroon, due to commercial harvesting from the wild.

“Prunus africana is a traditional medicine in Africa, used to treat chest pain, malaria and
fevers (Cunningham and Mbenkum 1993). It is traded on the international market for the
manufacture of products used to treat prostate gland hypertrophy (enlarged prostate gland) and the closely related but more serious condition of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Prostate enlargement currently affects more than 50 per cent of men over the age of 50 (BBC 2001). With a rapidly ageing population in the West, it easy to envisage a great rise in demand.” [Source: WWF report on conservation status of the species]

This in depth report on the issue concludes that cultivation of this species is a viable alternative to wild harvesting, but needs to be taken more seriosly:
http://peopleandplants.org/whatweproduce/Workingpapers/pdf/wp2.pdf

Cordia africana is another local tree species. It is in the Borage family like comfrey, and, like comfrey, it is shown to promote the growth of crops which feed upon its decaying leaf material: “The cereals grown from underneath Cordia trees resulted in significantly better growth responses and higher crop yield as compared to the control. Key words: Cordia, Maize, Sorghum, Yield.” [Source: http://www.ldd.go.th/18wcss/techprogram/P12008.HTM]

It has multiple uses including being used as a shade tree coffee and as bee forage, to give honey. (http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5327e/x5327e0u.htm) “The wood is used for furniture, beehives, mortars, carvings, building and firewood. The tree is also important for coffee shade and for avenues and ornamental purposes. The fruits produce glue and are also eaten by children. The bark is used as medicine for stomach-ache and for treatment of fractures with the fresh juicy bark tied against the broken part until the bone is healed.” [source] “The flesh of the fruits is sticky and edible both in normal times (by children) and in famine period (by adults and children). Each fruit contains up to 6 seeds.”[source]

Coffee is often grown under both Cordia africana and Millettia ferruginea in Ethiopia:
"Ato (Mr) Mulugeta, the district agronomist, was our guide and demonstrated what steps the state authorities are taking to protect their coffee biodiversity and to advise growers. He showed us the nursery where the two types of coffee hybrid (developed from local varieties) suitable for this area are offered for sale at 1¢ a seedling, and the plot of land where about 14 different natural varieties are grown for the genetic pool. This, as well as most other plots we saw, was shaded with Millettia ferruginea, Ensete ventricosa, both endemic trees, the former leguminous, and the latter providing a staple food starch, or Cordia africana, a protected indigenous tree. "There is hardly any fertilizer used on coffee in this area," confirmed Ato Mulugeta, "and the farmers rely on natural mulches from the trees as well as coffee pulp generated in the pulperies." [Source: http://www.sweetmarias.com/article_ethiopia2004.html]

Coffee is the most obvious plant which can be incorporated into agro-forestry systems in the area. It is indigenous here, growing wild in the forests as an under-story plant. This makes it an ideal crop to grow beneath a canopy which itself yields other products; fruit, nuts, timber, fire wood, honey, medicine etc. I will go into more detail about the coffee production techniques used in Ethiopia later.

Also mentioned in the above article is Enset ventricosa, or false banana. This is a huge herbaceous perennial plant is a relative of the banana. It is grown for the starchy pith of is massive corn and stem. It has been cultivated in Ethiopia for thousands of years, but was sidelined in favour of cereal crops during the previous “modernisation” drives of the socialist government. As a result its cultivation has declined. However Enset is both strongly drought tolerant and provides a high yield from a small land area. This makes it an deal reserve crop in times of famine as will remain alive at ties when grain crops have withered due to lack of water.

The 18th century Scottish traveler James Bruce described enset as grown in “large, thick plantations” south of Lake Tana, “exposed for sale” in local markets and as “food in great quantity” growing in “great perfection at Gondar.” Furthermore, he stated that it was “the general opinion” that enset was “naturally produced in every part of Abyssinia, provided there is heat and moisture” (Bruce, 1790). Although R. Pankhurst (1996) has questioned the accuracy of some of Bruce’s descriptions of enset, there is little doubt that enset was a significant crop in the Lake Tana region at that time.”

The enset plant also has multiple secondary uses including fiber provision and medicine:

“Enset provides fiber as a byproduct of decorticating the leafsheaths. Enset fiber has excellent structure, and its strength is equivalent to the fiber of abaca, a world-class fiber crop. About 600 tons of enset fiber per year are sent to factories. In rural areas the fiber is used to make sacks, bags, ropes, cordage, mats, construction materials (such as tying materials that can be used in place of nails), and sieves (Plates 5g and 5h, page 14). Fresh enset leaves are used as bread and food wrappers, serving plates, and pit liners to store kocho for fermentation and future use (Plate 6g, page 16). During enset harvesting enset leaves are used to line the ground where processing and fermentation take place. The dried petioles and midribs are used as fuel, and to make mats and tying materials for house construction (Plate 5f, page 14). The dried leafsheaths are used as feed and wrapping materials. The pulp from the dried leafsheaths, petioles, and midribs is used as cleaning rags and brushes, baby cushions/diapers, and cooking pot stands. Dried leafsheaths are used as wrappers for butter, kocho, and other items to transport to local markets (Plate 5e, page 12). Enset leaves are an important cattle feed, especially in the dry season when grasses are scarce. Leaves are carried into the house for stall feeding of cattle during the nighttime (Plate 5d, page 13).

Particular clones (or varieties) and parts of enset plants are used medicinally for both humans and livestock to cure bone fractures, broken bones, childbirth problems (i.e., assisting to discharge the placenta), diarrhea, and birth control (as an abortifacieant).”

[Source: PDF this is a very good article]

More info on Enset ventircosa:
http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/enset/uses.shtml http://www.inibap.org/pdf/ethiopia.pdf
http://www.sidamaconcern.com/country/enset_security.htm
http://www2.volstate.edu/kbell/Articles/ethiopia_enset.htm

Aframomum corrorima (Ethiopian cardamom) is another species that has utility which grows naturally in the same forest stands as coffee. “Beside coffee production, spices can also be planted in this zone. Aframomum corrorima produces seeds which are high value spices. A kilo of this spice can fetch more than US$10 even in local market. However, there is no practice of planting it for production and it is always harvested from the wild plants. This plant is endemic to Ethiopia with its distribution range restricted to the area. The seeds germinate and establish without any problem (Gole, unpublished data). It has a great potential to diversify crops inorder to reduce dependency of the people only on coffee for cash.”
http://www.gdnet.org/pdf/2002AwardsMedalsWinners/HealthEnvironmentDevelopment/tadesse_gole_paper.pdf

As well as all these plants bee-keeping can easily be integrated into agro-forrestry systems as part of a permaculture set up. Honey is an ideal product, since it is self preserving, has medicinal value and can be used to make other products, such a t’edj
(honey whine).

More info on bees and agroforestry
http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory40.html

Other than agro-forestry, there would be the potential site for aquaponics. This is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics, but it is far more productive and ecologically sustainable than either of them. Since Talapia are already present in Lake Tana, it would simply be a case of removing them from the lake and culturing them in tanks. The water in the tanks is run through vegetable beds which filter it before it is returned to the tank. This provides readily available nutrients to the vegetables and cleans the water for the fish.

Aquaponics is an interesting system from the point of view of Africa, because it can be cheap to set up and run and well as being highly productive and yielding a high-protein product. The main limitation is water availability. However if water is present in the area in lakes or rivers, then aquaponics may provide a sustainable alternative to fishing or other forms of aquaculture where fish are kept in the cages within lakes and fed on pelleted foods. It also has a lower water consumption than conventional aquaculture (not to mention conventional gardening) and, since it yields not only fish but a lot of vegetables too, it will also supply a balanced diet. Getting small scale, cheap and replicable aquaponics systems going in Ethiopia could help provide nutrition and income to many people who are living near to lakes or rivers. You can even try doing this at home where you live!

For more information on aquaponics see these sites:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/aquaponic.html
http://aquaponics.net.au/
http://rps.uvi.edu/AES/Aquaculture/aquaponics.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Biogas production from waste organic materials is another system I would like to experiment with. This can be dune using animal dung, human waste, waste plant material from pruning or from clearing land (which is a far preferable to burning it!), waste materials from plant processing factories (e.g. coffee) and so on. There are many potential methane digestion systems which can be set up to yield methane which can be used in cooking as an alternative to charcoal and effluent which is a nutrient rich fertiliser that can be used to feed crops or, for example, to grow algae as food for fish such as Talapia!

For more info on biogas production see these sites:

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/MethaneDigesters/MDToC.html#ToC
http://www.green-trust.org/methane.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/mac/egmatthews/biogas/biogas.html

In the next post I will discuss some of the priorities and possibilities for permaculture in the Ethiopian lowlands, where the cycle of poverty and land degradation is more chronic. For the moment this gives some leads and ideas which can be expand upon in-situ, once in Ethiopia. I will be setting off to begin planning and prospecting for the project on April 21st. I also plan, to start co-operation with a project that has already begun there, in the eastern lowlands in the Afar region. I hope there will be a lot to learn here and that I can contribute something to this project as well as establish a mutually beneficial relationship with them. I will explain more about this project and other permaculture initiatives that are already going on in Ethiopia in due course.

Peace to all on Earth and Glory unto the Almighty!
Ja Rastafari! Zion is in Africa!

The Mission: To Spread permaculture in Africa

2007-04-01T13:53:00.000+03:00

Mission to African Zion

So, if you read the last post you will appreciate something of the suffering of Ethiopian farmers in the current global economic and political environment. You may also be wondering what the hell can be done to help the situation! Well, legal/political problems are not what I really want to get involved with in Ethiopia. The ugly face of globalisation is best fought at the grass-roots level, through practical community based action and not by winging at corrupt politicians and beaurocrats.

What I’m gonna be doing is PERMACULTURE. This is both a design system and a global grass roots movement, made up of people taking direct practical action, as a means of soft resistence to the global capitalist system of mass production by constructive and peaceful means.

What is permaculture?

For the reader to appreciate the true brilliance of permaculture as a design system, and the man who put it all together and why it is most surely the solution to the twin problems of poverty and environmental destruction, you’re going to have to read his own work directly (The Introduction is a good starting point, but The Permaculture Designers Manual is the Bible for the aspiring permaculturalist, a mine of information and ideas essential for anybody who wants to go into it seriously).

Bill Mollison is an Australian farmer, who spent a lot of time living in the bush and drew a lot of inspiration from the thinking of the Aboriginal Australians he lived with. They follow a philosophy and practise of living in balance with the environment around them by observing natural patterns and fitting human activities into those patterns. Mollison also took also took many ideas from, Asian, South American and Pacific Island farming systems, as well as other thinkers, such as the Japanese Zen Buddhist farmer, Masanobu Fukoka and the Australian rancher P A Yoemans, who developed the Keyline system of land management. Also influential in permaculture was englishman Robert Hart who developed the forrest garden. All of this, along with one of his students, David Holmgren, Mollison integrated into a coherent system of design which he called: "permaculture".

Here I give a brief outline summarised from chapter one of Mollison’s Introduction to Permaculture with a few examples thrown in for good measure.

The Permaculture Design System

Permaculture is a design system and a philosophy which follows a few basic common sense principals in order to maximise the productive yield of domestic systems by maximising synergy between the elements of the system. An element is any part of the house-hold or farmstead into which energy and nutrients flow, and from which they exit. These may include; the kitchen, the toilet, the vegetable garden, the shower, the duck pond etc. The most important tool at our disposal for this task is observation. We must carefully observe our elements, analysing their inter-relations in order to optimise their co-function - that is to say encourage them to work together.

What does that mean? Well each element in a system requires inputs and produces outputs. In permaculture we look to turn all outputs from any one element into inputs for other elements. In this way wastage is minimised and so is reliance on external inputs. Ideally there should be no waste at all; every output is an input, just as in natural ecosystems. In this way we make each element perform multiple functions.

We should also try to build redundancy into the system - that is to say, have multiple elements available to perform any one function so that when one element fails we will have a back-up in place. For example we may rely on a wind turbine for electric power. This will be no good if the wind does not blow for 2 months of the year, so we should have alternatives in place to provide power during these times.

The next thing we consider is the placement of the elements. Their relative location is very important, as it should reflect their relationships with each other and with their operators (us!). in order to maximise the ease of running the whole system. For example placing a toilet up at the top of a hill, or far away from the house will waste a lot of energy, as we must visit the toilet each day and will walk many miles doing so over the course of the years. This energy may have been better spent doing more productive tasks!

To simplify this process, Mollison uses the concept of activity zonation. He breaks a farmstead into five zones according to their ease of access from the centre of activity - usually the house:

Zone I, nearest the house contains elements that are visited more then once daily: for example herb and salad gardens, toilets, fish tanks, wood-shed etc.
Zone II, a bit further away, may be visited daily but contains elements requiring less maintenance or attention. Here we may keep chicken pens, rabbit runs, duck ponds, fruit trees, potato patches, and other vegetables not regularly tended like Brassicas or turnips. We may also have a forest-garden (see here) and an out-door solar shower here (hidden in a circle of banana trees), from which the waste water goes directly to garden. We may set up movable pens here to allow a controlled foraging system for our chickens and ducks. At times they can be brought into zone I as well, to work a "chicken tractor" and help us prepare vegetable beds (more on this below).

Zone III includes elements visited on a less frequent basis such as orchards and wood-lots, but may also include larger animals which forage among these arboreal systems. We may also keep bees in zone III. In permaculture the use of agro-forestry is highly favoured over pastoral systems or arable mono-crops, which are far less productive uses of land space. Trees do not require constant attention or many inputs. They do not need to be re-planted annually or weeded. The multi-storey nature of the forest system means it is capable of producing many yields which sum up to a huge productivity relative to annual mono-crops like wheat. They give many useful products: food, fuel, tools, mulch for the gardens (leaves), building materials, animal forage etc. They also perform many important functions, putting down deep roots to direct water into the ground, recharging aquifers, protecting soul by laying down leaf litter, thus also purifying water. Legume trees (like Acacias) may also fix huge amounts of nitrogen, so are an essential source nutrient input for the whole system.
Zone IV is the semi wilderness. This area not controlled to such an extent as the inner zones, but it is an area for experimentation and observation. Here we may wish to test the suitability of a new species to the habitat we are living in. We may also remove dead wood for fuel in the autumn, for example.
Zone V, lastly, is the wilderness. Here we let nature run its course and observe the patterns and relationships that emerge between species in natural systems. This zone is very important for observation and inspiration.

Chicken Tractor (more info)

To give an example of how we can get elements to serve multiple functions, let us consider chickens in more detail for a bit. What are the inputs and outputs?

Outputs: Eggs, meat, feathers and shit and they scratch the ground as part of their foraging behaviour, all of which we can utilise to our advantage.
Required inputs: a varied diet (feed and forage), shelter from predators, bedding, a place to lay, water and shade.

In order to fit our chickens into our system in the best way possible, we analyse these inputs and outputs, trying to align them with the outputs and inputs of other elements in our system. Eggs and meat obviously to the kitchen. Eggs are collected daily, so chickens should not be too far from the kitchen. Chicken manure can be composted to go into the garden, feathers can be used as a slow nitrogen release fertilizer in the garden. Chicken manure is no good for worm farms but can be fed into a biogas digester. The chicken tractor makes use of the chicken’s foraging behaviour in order to clear the ground of vegetation, for example if we want to plat there. The chickens are confined in a movable pen which is placed over the area to be “tractored”. They will forage in the vegetation, eating insects and the leaves and seeds of the plants then begin to scratch the ground looking for grubs and worms. They remove weed seeds from the surface layer of the topsoil along with insects, grubs, snails and other organisms which may attack our vegetables. They also drop manure which they mix into the soil themselves as they scratch. So allowing the chickens to do this means you don’t have to weed and dig the garden yourself, or put fertilizer or pesticide into it. Chickens are light and do not compact the soil structure as you do when you stand on it, so its structure is preserved and when rain comes it will soak into the ground, rather than running off. You also won’t have to feed them as much as you would in a stationary pen, and their eggs will be more delicious due to the varied diet they get. Kitchen and garden wastes can also be thrown in into them. What they don’t eat they will turn into the ground by scratching, so enrich the soil further.

As a system the chicken tractor works because of the relationships between the chickens, the garden and the kitchen to produce much more beneficial effects than any of them could do alone. So clearly chickens should be near the garden and not too far from the kitchen. They are usually kept on the borders on zones I and II where they can be allowed to forage into either in runs or pens if we wish to set up tractors in either of them.

Such beneficial relationships which may exist between any of our elements and these we look to enhance. We use companion planting and organise species into guilds, selecting species which have evolved beneficial inter-relationships (symbioses) with each-other, and keeping those that are detrimental to one-another (allopathic) apart.

In aquaponic systems, for example, vegetable beds act as water filters for fish tanks. Or is it the fish effluent fertilising the plants? One process happens but we are getting two functions out of it – free fertilizer and clean water for our fish! Worms can easily be farmed and fed on any organic material as long as it’s not too woody (i.e. has a low C:N ratio) and is kept damp but well aerated. We can culture worms in composting toilets, manure heaps (though chicken manure is not so good) or feed them on kitchen scraps, waste material from cafés, breweries, wineries etc. most of which can be got for free. In producing worms we get lovely compost for the garden. We can then feed worms to the fish and to chickens.

And we select elements to adding them to the system and placing them on the basis of their relationships to each-other and ourselves, always taking into account and their practical manageability, and looking to minimise labour and external inputs while maximising the sum of yields and recycling of nutrients and energy into the system, just as happens in natural ecosystems.

Apart from the inter-relations of elements the second next major thing to consider in placing elements is the flows of energy. We consider the local wind patterns across the year, the changes of sun light and shadow moving across the land, through the days and seasons. We consider their effects on each of our elements (e.g. wind may be bad for the garden, sun can be captured by a thermal store to keep the house warm at night, wind can generate electricity, so we carefully consider the best place to site turbines, or photo-voltaic panels, and so on…)

Perhaps most importantly we also consider gravity (i.e. slope) and effects this has on the movement of water across the site. We always make maximum use of gravity in water management. Water should always be harvested from the highest point on the land possible, in order to remove the need for pumping. We use swales and keyline management techniques to regulate water-flow across the land. Combined with grazing regulation this system leads to the effective creation of new topsoil on the land. Run-off is minimised, and hence so is erosion, while that water which cannot be absorbed by the soil directly is channelled into dams and tanks for storage at the highest available points in the landscape (thus we store maximum gravitational energy as well as water). We consider access, recalling that roads will always double as drainage channels when it rains and must thus fit with our system of water magement. We also consider fire risks and the placing of fire-breaks (a task that may be fulfilled by ponds, roads or cactus fences) to protect our most important structures.

In this way we can plan the placement of elements relative to all our energy requirements, always looking to scatter hostile energies and harness beneficial ones according to our obsevations, acting to harness the multiple functions from each elements. Hedges can serve as wind breaks, as well as providing animal fodder, fruit, mulch, nectar for bees, habitat for insect predators and protecting the garden from grazing animals. A greenhouse may act as a mechanism to warm the living quarters if it is set on the sunny face of the house. We may plant deciduous trees so as to cast shade on a certain area in the summer but allow the light to shine through in winter when it is cold and the leaves have fallen. And so on…

All these principals are universally applicable, and have been put to use in every climate on earth, from The Arctic to The Amazon. And in Africa their application should prove to be of huge benefit; increasing the self sufficiency of the rural poor, helping them to manage their assets more effectively and reducing their dependence on corrupt financial systems and unpredictable markets.

Permaculture and Fossil Fuels

One of permaculture’s key aims is reducing our reliance on non-renewable energies and consumer products produced in energy expensive industries. This is very important for under-developed countries which are oil importers because, as they strive to follow the same route to development as the west, they are relying on the same energy hungry technologies we have used. This means their development is limited by how much oil they can afford to import. Oil must be paid for in dollars on the international market, so imports are limited by the rate at which a country can export products to earn foreign exchange. With the problems in the Middle East only getting worse, and China and India growing into new mega-economies the price of oil is only going up. As we saw earlier the world price of coffee has collapsed in the last few years, meaning that Ethiopia and other African countries are in less of a position to follow an oil based development strategy than ever! Moving them away from a fossil fuel based development strategies is therefore likely to be of huge benefit.

The Global Permaculture Movement

Over the last 40 years permaculture has become a global movement. People are taking up these principals and applying them to their own situations from Senegal to Hungary to New Zealand to Costa Rica. As yet the bulk of the permaculture movement remains in Europe, Australia and North America. In the third world farmers have been practising many of the techniques used in permaculture for many generations anyway, as with aquaculture systems in China for example. However increasing population growth and energy consumption is putting more pressure on the land that supports us, and people are tending to move out of ecological harmony with natural systems, often following the advice of people keen to push “modern techniques” (i.e. techniques that involve buying lots of synthetic products and heavy machinery) onto the rural sector in less developed areas of the world.

The Challenge of Spreading permaculture in Africa

In Africa there has not been a long tradition of settled agriculture in many places. People have traditionally lived as nomadic herders and shepherds, but population growth has thrown the pastoral life-styles that have been followed for thousands out of balance with the land that has supported them. Bringing concepts and techniques relating to water management, soil conservation and soil building would hugely benefit the rural poor. Integrating these into traditional systems as well moving people away from such heavy reliance on grazing stock would be a long term aim of the permaculture movement as it spreads into Africa.

Meanwhile the urban poor could benefit hugely from small scale poly-culture cultivation systems which are employed elsewhere, such as in Asia and the Pacific.

Permaculture is about community action, so the so this does not simply mean white people should go to Africa and start telling people what to do. It is about providing Africans with the opportunity to access information about systems which they could apply. It is also about facilitating the implementation of those ideas through such mechanisms as micro-credit. The information intensive nature of the permaculture system means that it will be a great challenge to spread it into illiterate populations. Translating the literature into african languages is one of the first priorities.

By the grace of Jah, a way shall be found and these walls of Babylon be brought crashing to the ground!

More Information on Permaculture

This has been a bit of a garbled outline of some basic permaculture principals. There is not much online info available really, but here are some more leads:

http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/permaculture/
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/mm.asp?mmfile=whatispermaculture
http://www.permaculture.co.uk/info/Info_menu.html

If you want more detailed info, and there is some very good info out there, get hold of one of these titles, especially The Introduction to Permaculture, The Designer's Manual, or The Earthcare Manual (better for temperate climates).

USA: http://www.permacultureactivist.net/booksvid/BooksnVid.htm
UK: http://www.eco-logicbooks.com/index.cfm?fa=books_main&category_id=19
Ireland: http://www.walnutbooks.com/default.php?cPath=77_79

If you are really interested I would be best that you take a permaculture design course. Joining this movement will most assuredly change you life! The horizons are limitless.

UK
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/

N. America
http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/index/

Australia (and global)
http://permaculture.org.au/permaculture-courses/

Coming soon…

In the next posts I will relate more about my own plans for Ethiopia and my thoughts on applying permaculture to their situation. I will give some information about agriculture out there and some of the species present which might be available to fit into permaculture systems in that context.

ETHIOPIA: The Holy Land of Zion in Africa

2007-03-29T13:46:00.000+03:00

The Land

“When the Russian plant geneticist N.I. Vavilov arrived during one of his collection expeditions to Ethiopia and neighbouring countries in the 1920s, he was amazed. In Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland he found so much genetic diversity that he included the area in the list of the few great centres of crop plant diversity and called it the Abyssinian gene centre. Virtually the whole complex of seed crops from the South West Asian and Mediterranean centres of crop origin were found there. On wheat variation Vavilov says that " Abyssinia occupies the first place" and on barley that there is "an exceptional diversity of forms". But then he also found impressive diversity of native African crops (such as teff) and of sorghum, millets and many grain legumes, oil crops, vegetables, spices and other species.”

Source: http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=374

It is a sad, but little known fact that Ethiopia is one of the main sources of origin for the crops which now feed the glutinous western world as it scoffs itself into obesity. It is also the mother-land of coffee, the world’s second most valuable traded commodity after oil.

- http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blackgold/economics.html -
- http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/story.php -

Once named by the Persian philosopher-prophet Mani as one of the four great empires of the earth, Ethiopia now exists in the western consciousness as a dustbowl of poverty and deprivation. But that is less than half the story. In truth the Abyssinian Highlands should be one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, blessed with high rainfall, a comfortable range of temperatures and rich soils. The soils are nourished by almost perpetual lightning flashes in high atmosphere storms, which fix atmospheric nitrogen, as they chatter in billowing cloud stacks, which brood almost perpetually above the massive Afromontane plateaus during the rain season.

Ethiopia has fantastic cultural wealth, having been the only part of Africa to hold its own against European imperialism in the last centuries. It is a diverse and spiritual land, comparable with India in terms of its depth of history and its multitude of colour (great photos!) and many smiling faces. The Amharic language, descended from Ge’ez, the sacred language of the orthodox, church is the only African language with its own alphabet today. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church dates back to the 4th century and before that Judaic culture in Ethiopia goes back around 3000 years and legend has it that that Emperors of Ethiopia are descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Ethiopia is also important for Islam, as the Christian King of Axum gave refuge to some of the companions of the Prophet Mohammed including Uthman, one of the Khalif’s that succeeded him, when they were facing persecution from the establishment in Mecca.

Many Smiling faces: Kids in Gembe, Oromia (2006)

Orthodox Priest in front of his Church (Gembe, Oromya, 2006)

Today all three religions are present in Ethiopia, and there has almost always been an overwhelming atmosphere of tolerant co-existence between them, rather than the factionalism and rivalry seen in some areas of mixed religion, such as the Middle East or Yugoslavia.

Ethiopia as African Zion

The Italian fascists, under Mussolini, tried to conquer Ethiopia (for the second time) in the last century. They attacked in 1935, using mustard gas and other such filthy tactics, and occupied Ethiopia, joining it with Eritrea and Italian Somali-land to form “Italian East Africa”. After a 7 year occupation, they were thrown out in 1941, having been there long enough to leave a mark in the form of the macchiato and the caffé urbano, as well as a generation containing a few members with slightly paler skin than the rest. Haili Selassi had managed to kick them out, admittedly with (a lot) of help from the Allies, and had fulfilled the prophesy of Marcus Garvey, raising himself from the lowly status of “The Lion of Judah” (the title of the emperors of the Solomonic dynasty) to the status of God Himself! That is, in the eyes of the dispossessed African slave peoples of the Caribbean. And so the Rastafarian movement was born, with Ethiopia named as their Zion in Africa, the land of the Ras Teffari (Haili Salassi I), who would deliver the African nation in Exodus from their captivity in Babylon beneath the chains of European colonialism.

In response to their proclamation Selassi, who seems to have quite liked the notion of his own divinity, offered land to all the African diasporas who wished to return to Ethiopia, although most of them were descended from West African slaves and not ethnically to the Ethiopians. But many Rastas went to Ethiopia and are now living in Shashamani, a few hundred kilos south of Addis Ababa. But they have not won so many converts to their faith among the locals. A reggae culture has taken off amongst the urban youth in the capital city, but they don’t take the religions doctrines as a serious prospect, and most Ethiopians remain Orthodox Christian today, although some protestant sects are actively proselytising there and with some success.

For more information on Ethiopian culture and the Rastas history see:
http://www.oneworldmagazine.org/focus/etiopia/toc.htm

Some fantastic images of the sacred land of Jah Rastefari, the Lion of Judah. Jah! Zion is in Africa! http://www.peace-on-earth.org/Ethiopia/index.html

The Problem

Despite its great cultural and biological wealth, Ethiopia has suffered gravely at the hands of it’s own leaders and of the “international community”. Haili Selassi was overthrown in 1974 by a communist dictatorship, aptly named “The Derg” (which means “the committee”). Ethiopia went on to become the Soviet Union’s biggest ally in Africa. A series of catastrophic, typically communist, development initiatives were implemented by the derg. According to some estimates only 3% of the counties forrests are left standing, though others say about 11% of the country’s area remains forrested.

The Soviets fed the Derg with a huge military arsenal during its wars with Somalia, but those guns were later turned inwards, as various insurgencies rose against the communist government following the fall of the Soviet’s own fall in the 90’s. The Derg was finally overthrown in 1987. This was followed by more civil war and the border war with Eritrea, which successfully broke away from Ethiopia (in 1991). Hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea continued into the 21st century (during which the USA sold arms to both sides) leaving many more thousands dead since the derg fell. Tellingly, these two countries actually have the largest military arsenals in Sub-Saharan Africa. The chaos of these civil/border wars, together with the failure of rains, lead to the infamous famine of the mid 80s, which for most westerners is the only image they have of Ethiopia.

(More history of the derg, Red Terror, and ethiopian civil wars here)

The Unholy Trinity: WTO, IMF and World Bank

But there is another twist in this sorrowful tail; the role of the Breton Woods Institutions and those who their activities serve: The Multinationals.

First of all the WTO and World Bank have successfully wrecked International Coffee Agreement (ICA) (more info on how they did it here) as part of thier program of "leveling the global palying field" by "removing market distortions". This has lead to a huge fall in earnings for poor farmers in coffee producing countries, with Oxfam estimating that up to 25 million coffee growers are now at risk of starvation. The problm is especially bad in Ethiopia which is the motherland of coffee and heavily dependent on it as a source of foreign exchange earnings. Ethiopia produces some of the finest beans in the world, still using traditional forrest based production techniques in many areas (more on this to come later). It is also the repository of most of the world’s genetic diversity of coffee Arabica. All of this is under threat due to the current situation.

"Five years ago, top quality arabica coffee such as that produced by Ethiopia would fetch around £1 a pound; now it's down to 40p. As a result, Ethiopia is losing twice as much as it gained in debt relief, communities are at pre-starvation level. A growing number of malnutrition deaths are being related directly to the coffee crisis.

The situation forced the US and the EU to warn last year that Ethiopia was at risk of increased poverty and food insecurity. The warning was delivered without irony; no mention was made of the wider policies they had introduced which contributed to the problem.

Their suffering can be clearly traced to Western demands and in particular the World Bank. The New York global development bank advised poor nations which never grew coffee to enter the market. Enter Vietnam. In 10 years the South East Asian country came from nowhere to become the world's second biggest producer of coffee behind Brazil. "

"Coffee that is processed, roasted and freeze dried is more valuable than green coffee. Yet it is uneconomic for poor countries to process it because tariffs in Europe and America make it impossible for those like Nissai to process the beans she collects. Impassioned attempts will resume today to unravel what many analysts agree is a shameless attempt to rig global markets in favour of the rich. "

"...some high-street retailers can charge up to £1.80 for each latte while a farmer in Guatemala will receive as little as 2p. The rest is carved up in deals between the middlemen who buy the crop from the farmer and those who pass it on to the massive Western companies who roast most of the world's coffee. "

From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/wto/article/0,2763,1041819,00.html

More info on coffee prices and the Fairtrade movement: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blackgold/economics.html).
http://www.utzcertified.org/

But this is not all the WTO and chums have been up to!

TRIPS: More dirty TRICKs!

“THE intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection system (patents, breeders' rights, copyrights, trademarks etc.) was developed in the industrialised countries of Europe and North America. It all started with the patenting of mechanical inventions. The idea behind patenting was that if a person invents a new mechanical innovation, she/he should monopolise the use of that invention for a set period (usually 15-25 years depending on national legislation) so as to reward her/him. Others who want to use that machine would then pay royalties to the inventor. However, a discovery was considered not protectable by patenting. This system sounds fair. But it is being distorted and it has become unfair…”

“It has come to be applied to living things, and yet nobody has as yet learned to create a living thing. We have, so far, only managed to discover living things, not to invent even one. But now, the industrialised countries are patenting living things as if they have invented them.
The extension of the application of the intellectual property rights (IPRs) system to living things - a process which has been globalised by the World Trade Organisation through the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement - has resulted in gross injustice to the countries of the South, in particular to its local and indigenous communities. By sanctioning the patenting of varieties of genetic material developed over generations by such communities and enabling Northern corporations to secure monopoly control over them, the TRIPS Agreement is undermining the concept of equitable benefit-sharing envisaged in the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted at the Rio Earth Summit. In emphasising that the way out is for Southern countries to enact national legislation which recognises such community rights, Tewolde Berhan G Egziabher shows how, in this regard, there is growing awareness in Africa of the need for coordinated action.”

From: http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/berhan-cn.htm

Now the multinationals are busy using these legal absurdities to wrangle a profit from the hard work of generations of plant breeders in the third world!

"The use of Neem, an Indian tree traditionally used as a pesticide, has, for example, been patented in the USA, Germany and Japan without any use of modern biotechnology. The traditionally esteemed Basmati rice of India has been patented in the US. So has Endod from Ethiopia, while teff, taken from Ethiopia and grown in the USA only for one season in order to describe its morphology, has been given a breeders' right protection as the property of the 'Teff Corporation of America'.

Literally hundreds of such cases of genetic plagiarism have been recorded. The original producers of Basmati rice, the smallholder farmers of India, are already losing their market to the USA. And things seem set to get worse. Through Article 28.1 (a) of TRIPS, which prevents third parties - into which categories the farmers of India and Pakistan have now been relegated, from 'making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing', the US patent holders can use the WTO to completely stop the export of any rice from India and Pakistan under the name of 'Basmati'."

From: http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/berhan-cn.htm

But it does not stop there! In the Ethiopian case, as well as in other poverty stricken countries the Agri-business multinationals are not content just to steal from the farmers, but have been undertaking to force them to by the stolen goods back off them! There has been a co-ordinated effort to destroy the traditional land-races (that is, local varieties developed by Ethiopian farmers over thousands of years) in order to force them into a state of dependence on seeds bought from the Agro-tech companies, with high (chemical) input requirements, produced by them, of course.

The country's extensive reserves of traditional seed varieties (barley, teff, chick peas, sorghum, etc) were being appropriated, genetically manipulated and patented by the agribusiness conglomerates: "Instead of compensation and respect, Ethiopians today are ...getting bills from foreign companies that have "patented" native species and now demand payment for their use."13 The foundations of a "competitive seed industry" were laid under IMF and World Bank auspices.14 The Ethiopian Seed Enterprise (ESE), the government's seed monopoly joined hands with Pioneer Hi-Bred in the distribution of hi-bred and genetically modified (GM) seeds (together with hybrid resistant herbicide) to smallholders. In turn, the marketing of seeds had been transferred to a network of private contractors and "seed enterprises" with financial support and technical assistance from the World Bank. The "informal" farmer-to-farmer seed exchange was slated to be converted under the World Bank programme into a "formal" market oriented system of "private seed producer-sellers." 15

In turn, the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute (EARI) was collaborating with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in the development of new hybrids between Mexican and Ethiopian maize varieties.16 Initially established in the 1940s by Pioneer Hi-Bred International with support from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, CIMMYT developed a cosy relationship with US agribusiness. Together with the UK based Norman Borlaug Institute, CIMMYT constitutes a research arm as well as a mouthpiece of the seed conglomerates. According to the Rural Advancement Foundation (RAFI) "US farmers already earn $150 million annually by growing varieties of barley developed from Ethiopian strains. Yet nobody in Ethiopia is sending them a bill." 17

If you really want to feel sick read the whole article:
Sowing the Seeds of Famine in Ethiopia (by Michel Chossudovsky)

Today in Ethiopia, things are little better. The latest spat with the Somali Islamists has been a worrying episode, but the main problem for most people, remains food security, especially in the lowlands, where there is less rainfall, higher temperatures and poorer infrastructure, due to less investment by the central government.

Destruction and Desperation

Moving away from the realm of the political, to the realm of the practical, there are a lot of short-comings in the methods of Ethiopian agriculture employed on the ground today. It can't ALL be blamed on the WTO and past governments.

The situation is exacerbated by population growth and land degradation due to slash and burn agriculture, over-grazing by livestock, and the cutting of indigenous trees to make charcoal, in desperate attempts to generate income, where agriculture does not provide enough yeild for suvival. Apparently little or no attempt is made at managing water resources. Farmers simply allow the rains to feed their crops when they come. Due to deforestation and overgrazing the torrential rains simply erode away topsoil, reducing fertility, and run directly into the water courses. This leaves the land dry for the rest of the time. The farmers are then left waiting for next years rains before they can grow anything else. Since the population is 85% rural and most people depend on subsistence agriculture for survival this is a BIG problem. Simply; when the rains fail there will be famine again.

Land cleared of native trees to make charcoal (Assosa, 2006)

The dweallings of the impoverished in the the ethiopian contryside. These kids smile and wave as we passed them. They are standing next to piles of wood which will be made into charcoal to sell. They are destrying the land around them as they struggle to survive.

Another part of the cause of this is the system of land tenure; a persistent hangover from the communist days, under which almost the entire country is considered commonage, (if you know of the concept of “The Tragedy of the Commons” then you will get what I mean here) except those parts of it which are rented form the government, making people (those who can afford to be at least) permanent tenants of the state at the very best!

So what do I (and those who want to come along and help) intend to do about all this?

The Mission

Well, legal and political problems are not worth getting involved with. I’m gonna be concerning myself with practical issues on the ground. The first priority for any project is funding and I’m going down the market route because I see the private sector as the most effective way to establish a self sustaining and hopefully expanding project on a relatively small starting budget. The idea is to set up an eco-tourism business which will generate funds to run a permaculture education and demonstration centre.

I believe that permaculture and the permaculture movement has the power to solve the problems of rural (and urban) poverty everywhere. What is required is sufficient interest from the people, and especially help from conciencious people in the developed world. Its not about giving money to charities, its about going there to do it yourslef so that you know exactly where every penny goes!

In the next post I’m gonna explain more about what permaculture is and why I think it is the solution to these problems; why it has the power to break the dependence of the poor on the twisted and exploitative schemes of trans-national capital, why it is the solutions to the problems of land degradation and water scarcity, environmental destruction and the loss of biodiversity, from the level of crop varieties right up to entire ecosystems.

For now I will leave you with the Wiki page as a brief introduction to the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

One Love and Peace on Earth

Jah Rastefari I!

Get up stand up, stand up for your rights!

Introduction of Permaculture in Konso; Ethiopia

2007-02-01T17:28:00.000+03:00

BACKGROUND
Permaculture (PC) is a holistic design science that stresses taking lessons from nature and bringing virgin forest culture into our gardens or fields. It is being used as a tool for promoting sustainable living by a growing number of people worldwide. In Africa, Permaculture is about sustaining life and livelihoods. Permaculture addresses needs not wants. It is about finding solutions to everyday problems. For many it is about being able to put food on the table and provide for the needs of the family and move out of vicious poverty and malnutrition. It is often a question of survival in a world that is determined to make Africans follow a development path that is based on foreign value systems, irrelevant processes and external high energy dependent inputs. Permaculture provides education that is more relevant to the local situation. Permaculture and its cousin Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are alternatives for Konso in Health, Nutrition, HIV and AIDS; Konso, like most of Africa is facing a health crisis due to a variety of reasons that include a collapsing health service delivery system, simplified diets, bad feeding habits and lifestyles and devastating impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Permaculture training will open new horizons by creating awareness about preventive and alternative health. In particular herbal remedies have proved to be accessible, affordable and effective in many communities.

Permaculture as a practical solution to numerous challenges described above is expected to bring out the following outcomes:

- Increased awareness among Konso farmers of the alternatives to the ‘green revolution’ approach;
- Increased awareness of the strategic importance of alternative development paradigm among the young generation and policy makers;
- Raised profile of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and the Natural Resource Management (NRM) model for endogenous development;
- Increased knowledge of appropriate technology such as oil pressing and food processing from own produce.

Everyone interested in the sustainable development of Konso, Africa and the rest of the world will find that Permaculture offers an appropriate bottom up and holistic approach that builds on the foundation of local indigenous knowledge and locally available resources. The possibility exists for Konso, Africa and humanity to design ourselves into oneness and harmony with the natural world.

In order to fulfill CISS’s goal is to implement community-based and managed projects for sustainable livelihood with focus to HIV/AIDS and environment by holding a series of 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificates (PDC) to equip members of the Konso community and the region in the skills in Permaculture in conjunction with Regional School and Colleges Permaculture Programme which covers East, Southern and part Northern Africa.

RATIONALE
Konso like most of Africa has been a recipient of economic, political and cultural domination by foreign entities for centuries. These external forces have served to weaken the capacity of African communities to be self-reliant, confident and to define their own paths to development, in some instances leading to alienation from the land. In spite of this sustained foreign onslaught and exploitation, Africa remains rich in cultural and biological diversity.

Permaculture Design Course (PDC) opens horizons for Konso or African communities to use their inherent natural and social wealth for sustainable development. Konso who will have been exposed to Permaculture are confident that the situation of hopelessness that has so far characterized the Konso African story can be turned around to one of hope as they work with nature to produce from their pieces of land all year round.

Why are we spending so much on a health life?
1) What other goods, services are being squeezed out of our budget?
2) What is the cost to the planet and society?

The answer to our ecological woes is permaculture farming technology because of the following positive responses:
(a) Permaculture uses resources that usually are naturally available in good quantities and is less costly to the earth’s ecological systems.

(b) Unlike the external high energy dependent inputs used in conventional farming, permaculture farming technology uses an annually renewable agricultural and self renewing pasture residue often considered a waste product.

(c) Permaculture is environmental friendly.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
Permaculture will help accomplish a number of long and short term objectives:
These are to:

(a) Demonstrate the use of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and the Natural Resource Management (NRM) model for endogenous development.

Permaculture in Konso will be built on the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) for instance elders will be used as resource people in giving the youth heritage knowledge on agriculture, natural medicines, natural foods and what brought about longevity in our forefathers at the same taking cognizance of today’s growing population. Permaculture will also bring in guardianship of the natural environment by taking herbs which have already been researched on to be grown around homesteads, so that it would be easy to suppress ailments at home as our forefathers used to. On optimum nutrition the emphasis will be “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food” (Hippocrates in 390 BC.) The people will be given a wide knowledge on what food to take and what food not to take showing that with an adequate intake of micronutrients most chronic diseases would not exist. One example would be to look at how herbs such as lemon grass can be processed for pharmaceuticals. Aloe vera could, according to some research (lemon grass) suppresses effects of malaria and (aloe vera) has many healing properties, supports healthy digestion, skin, immunity and as such an all-round tonic.

(b) Relieve pressure of financial deprivation on the indigenous Ethiopian \African farmers reliance on artificial fertilizers and other non-locally available resources (farm inputs) by using permaculture.

(c) Develop a culture which is owner and benefactor friendly. The independency on the use of non-locally and unaffordable resources (artificial fertilizers and other farm inputs) can easily be done by the owner and nature to eliminate external high energy dependent inputs.

(d) Use permaculture as a self-renewing, natural and affordable resource which is less costly to the planet’s ecological systems and to the soil.

(e) Demonstrate that permaculture is not careless neglect of the landscape.

For CISS, Permaculture is not about abandoning your landscape/design and letting nature completely take its course, rather man/the designer who is created in God’s image, manages his piece of land by using skills acquired from nature. No health hazards will be allowed to interfere with CISS’s version of permaculture. Excess material from kitchen, garden and grass would always be harvested to make compost to improve food production. Wastes such as food cans, old utensils and bones will be buried more than 60cm deep to build fertility trenches and improve food production on the landscape.

EXISTENCE OF SIMILAR LINKAGES
The theme of permaculture is slowly taking root in Zimbabwe through such philosophies as organic farming, natural farming and agro-forestry. We at the CISS will collaborate with organizations involved in permaculture and other sustainable practices such as: Permaculture Network in Malawi, Regional Schools Colleges Permaculture Programme Permaculture Association of Zimbabwe, Natural Farming Network, Silveira House, AZTREC, Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre and SCOPE Zimbabwe.

OVERVIEW OF PERMACULTURE
Permaculture comes from Permanent and Culture. The Culture referred to here is the culture of the natural origin forest which replenishes itself from time to time making it possible for us to harvest wood, humus, fruits, thatch grass and other resources for our day to day use.

Definition
Definition: a holistic science which places element/components so that they can work together to create a network of useful connections.

- Permaculture is about understanding nature’s patterns and applying these to the land.
- Permaculture aims at creating an interconnected WHOLE through good design, planning and management, but with species useful to us.
- Permaculture is about creating pieces of paradise wherever we live.
- Permaculture is technically an ecological design strategy which attempts to assemble the material and conceptual components of an eco-system in such a way that all life benefits i.e. human and non-human as well.
- Permaculture has evolved into methods of designing ecological communities and restoring rural, urban/suburban backyard, apartment balcony, to a design of an entire community or city into areas that are locally self-reliant.
- Permaculture focuses on possessiveness and is a solution-oriented design strategy – perceiving site problems and limitations only as design opportunities. It is an integrated concept, which centers on the interconnectedness of all things, which make up each particular system.

Biblical origins of Permaculture
The Garden of Eden was the essence and the living model of how mankind was and is to use land sustainable. In it everything human and non-human life needed was found. Life was easy with the food in abundance, clean water and a balanced environment. All man was to do was eat, rest and admire nature, but what went wrong Man decided to separate himself from nature and thought of conquering it by bringing those practices that harm nature yet the Garden of Eden was put to show us really God’s model of what He expects the people to do on it. Mankind can bring the principles and practices from the Garden of Eden into their land /design without difficulty.

African Indigenous Agriculture and Permaculture Origins
Our forefathers were so interwoven with nature that they never went into a new planting season without going out into nature to reconcile with nature with a traditional rite. Even before eating the first crop or harvest. As a result of this continuous interaction with nature when they went to plant their crops, nature remained a living model in their design. The field was so balanced with all forms of crops and lots of legumes supporting their soils. It is not news that Africans lived long because of their connections to nature and diversified form of agriculture. Permaculture can bring this back with a lot of holistic planning which it strongly focuses on.

Modern Origins of Permaculture
Permaculture came as an answer to ferment of late 1950s, which included military adventurism, the bomb, ruthless land exploitation, the arrogance of the polluters and the general insensitivity to human needs. An unethical world could waste more on killing people than on earth care on helping people. What was to be done seemed impossible. It consisted of researching, applying and teaching sustainable human eco-systems. Not only teach but also develop a model for others to learn from. When started in 1976, the apparently impossible was the only possible. It is not so much that permaculture works or doesn’t work; it is rather that such a system has to work if we are to sustain the biosphere. Nobody was more critical of the process than the co-founders had, that is Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and nobody was more aware of the potential weaknesses.

Today we can count in excess of 200 people who have attended Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC). Some have dropped on the way, but so many are in effective action around the globe. From Australia to America, Asia, Europe and Africa, permaculture is practiced in more than 80 countries. The challenge is to take permaculture ideas into mainstream and encourage the principles of earth care and people are to grow in the hearts and backyards of millions. It is already happening. We must believe in the power of transformation, for efforts of a few to crack the amour of the existing order.

Permaculture as Originated by Bill Mollison
Nov. 1959: Watching kangaroos browsing in the floristically simple rainforests of Tasmania, Mollison wrote in his diary:
I believe that we could build systems that would function as well as this one does.
In this statement we see an attempt to understand inter-relationships between browsers, plants and similar systems that we could create ourselves.

1972-1974: Bill Mollison develops an interdisciplinary earth science (Permaculture) with a potential for positive integration and global outreach.

1976: First public appearance of the permaculture concept with the article entitled: “A Permaculture System for Southern Australian Conditions-Part One by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren which appeared in the Organic Gardener and Farmer, Volume 1 Number 1, 1976 and also was printed in Tasmania College of Advance Education newsletter ‘Feral Gazette’.

1978: 1. Interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which created an avalanche of interest from the Australian community.

2. Publication of the Book ‘Permaculture One’ by both David Holmgren and Bill Mollison as a feedback of the article produced in 1976.

3. First ‘Permaculture International Journal’ was published.

1979: ‘Permaculture Two’ was published.

1981: Permaculture matures sufficiently to be taught as an applied designed system and the first ever 26 pioneer students graduate from an intensive 72 hour lecture (PDC) series (About the same lecture hours as a University subject).

1982: People actually make a living from products derived from stable permaculture landscape designs.

1984: The first ever International Permaculture Convergence Conference (IPC1) was held in October. 100 permaculturists were awarded applied diplomas for serving two years after the Permaculture Designed Course (PDC).

1987: Bill Mollision comes to Botswana to open the Africa Centre with the first PDC in Africa ever. Many people from around Africa attended the course.

1988: 1. Zimbabwe’s John Wilson and friends who also had attended the PDC sought a farm in Mount Hampden and set up the Fambidzanai permaculture Centre which started to train people in permaculture. It is still doing the same today.

2. Mollison again authored a book: Permaculture, Designers Manual.

1990s: Walkers begin permaculture in Malawi
1995: International Permaculture Convergence, Perth Western Australia.
1997: School and Colleges Permaculture Programme (SCOPE) starts in Zimbabwe

2006: Permaculture comes to schools in Malawi
2007: International Permaculture Convergence (IPC8) held in Brazil

2008: Ethiopian Permaculture Association scales up membership drive

2009: International Permaculture Convergence (IPC9) to be held in Malawi at Phalombe, Thuchila Estates, 1 to 6 November.

Permaculture Ethics (Goals)
Permaculture has a set of ethics or guiding principles. The three primary ethics are:

· Care of the Land
· Care of People
· Reduce consumption and share surplus

Permaculture as a designed strategy, while gaining popularity and recognition in Australia the United States, has been slow to make a mark in Ethiopia and Africa in general. Ethiopia and the rest of Africa requires a new vision given the depletion of the regions natural capital, primarily the soil, water, forests, and the economic and social conditions that pervade the continent. Permaculture based communities could be the future for the African regions given the history that of being a mosaic of self-reliant communities with resource based communities. By adopting permaculture design principles, Konso, Ethiopia, and Africa at large could once again create self-reliant lives, by growing food and providing for shelter, energy and their livelihoods, all within a supportive and interdependent community.

The design concept of permaculture has a lot of offer to agriculture. Bill Mollision, one of the originators of permaculture concept believed that no culture could thrive let alone survive without a strong, local, sustainable agriculture at its base.

Permaculture Ethics (Goal)
1. Care for the Earth
This means keeping all the water clean and unpolluted-no poison in it or the soil carried away by water. It means keeping the air clean and unpolluted and keeping the soil rich. What is often forgotten in the widespread promotion and encouragement of monoculture/cropping situation. It means maintaining of a great variety of living organisms (plants and animals of all sizes. It is the great variety which brings stability.)

2. Care of the people
This is to do with promoting self-reliance working towards a situation where people are truly able to decide, initiate and create for themselves; instead of introducing systems which make people very dependent on outside inputs, such as is seen with the dependency on artificial fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and advices that have grown in recent years. Many farmers would not be able to continue without these.

3. Reduce consumption and share the surplus (Recycling Excess)
This is straight forward and is the basis of Nature efficiency. Here recycling refers to all forms of excess such as animal and plant wastes metal paper, plastics, information, wealth.

The above three ethics are the broad goals of permaculture. Any decision can be usefully tested against these goals. Is supplying people a certain kind of seed going to lead them becoming more dependent? What effects will the application of certain technologies have on the variety of plant and animal life? Are resources being recycled? These ethics are not new. They have been part and parcel of many previous societies, but need to be resituated today, to be part of any sustainable development.

Bill Mollison’s Laws of Permaculture
1. Everything is connected to everything else.
A chicken adds fertilizer to a fruit tree and so breaks the lifecycle of some of the pests that spoil the fruit. The ducks on the pond aerate it for the fish and whose manure feeds the algae which feeds the fish. The water from the roof of the house caught in pits to grow plants to feed the people in the house and keep the house cool and protected from the winds and hot sun, the plants also benefiting from the protection and reflected heat of the house.

2. Everything gardens.
In nature the bee is one of the busiest gardeners transporting pollen from plant to the next. The birds fly around with seed that stick on their feet or swallow and then transferred from one part of the forest to the next, besides, the birds drop their high-phosphate manure full of seed of berry-producing shrubs and trees. These germinate and grow. Steadily, a high community of species which all depend on each other is established and a high level of succession is achieved.

3. The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited.
Limit is only imagination and experience of the designer.

4. Protracted and thoughtful observation, rather than protracted and thoughtfulness labour.

5. The problem is in the solution, or everything works both ways. Problems turned into assets and wastes into resources.

6. Stay out of the bush, its already in good order.

7. Work with nature instead of against it.

Principle 1:
Relative location
This principle involves the strategic selection and placement of plants, animals, structures etc., so that the yields of the one element become the raw material or requirements for another element, all the while relating the design to the partners of the particular landscape. The classic example for this principle is the chicken. What are the chicken products that can be used by another element in the design? Are these elements in the correct location to benefit from the interaction? Chickens produce fertilizer (manure), CO2, and heat, all of which can be used in a greenhouse. Is the greenhouse near the chicken coop? This same type of analysis can be conducted for all elements in a design.

Principle 2:
Multiple Functions Singe Elements
As a rule of thumb, every element should provide at least three functions. Instead of simply having chickens for income (one function), they might also serve other needs such as fertilization and weed control. Another example is an element as simple as a fence. If a fence is needed to contain animals, for example, design the fence in such a way that it provides many functions. A living fence can act as a holding area for animals, provide animals with food and fodder, act as windbreak, and provide food and medicine for the family. One final example is a living resource such as bees. When designed into a system, they serve several functions; food, income and pollination.

Principle 3:
Multiple Elements, Single Function
Multiple elements for a single function add diversity and the local farm ecosystem becomes more resilient to local environment fluctuations. For instance, if the single function is soil fertilization, instead of simply relying on chemical fertilizer, introducing multiple elements would include crop rotations, use of legumes, animal manure, etc. As other example, take the function of heating a structure such as greenhouse. Multiple elements would include body heat from animals, heat from compost piles placed against the structure, and the use of thermal mass to store the collected heat.

Principle 4:
Efficient Energy Planning
The goal of this designed principle is to help reduce the amount of effort (primarily human labour) required to manage a farm. The property is divided into zones related to how frequently each zone is visited. The more intensive the activity the closer to human habitation it should be. For instance, gardens and high maintenance animals should be closest to the house.

Principle 5:
Biological Resource
In the case the goal would be to move away from monoculture. In permaculture designed agriculture systems, animals would be introduced into the farm. Ponds and water lands might also be created. The idea of this principle is to attempt to mimic the diversity of natural systems and, hopefully, the resilient and resistant qualities of those natural systems. The design would also focus on utilizing energy flows (water, wind, etc.) that pass through a farm. It is also important not to forget the most often neglected biological resource–people!

Principle 6:
Energy recycling
When redesigning a farm it is necessary that energy flowing through the system is used in many different ways. In the case of water, water harvesting system might be created (key line system, dams, swales, etc.) to intercept water as it passes through the landscape. Energy recycling would also include recovering biogas from manure and orienting structure to obtain maximum solar gain.

Principle 7:
Maximize diversity
For permaculture systems, the idea is to build more stability into a farm by maximizing diversity, both in terms of plant and animal species, but also in terms of income or livelihood. In terms of plants and animals, diversity refers not only to the total number of species, but more importantly to the number of beneficial interactions between those species. It is important to create as many niches, micro sites, and habitats as possible by increasing edges, patterns and creating plant guilds. In terms of diversifying income, this might include energy tree / perennial grass planting for biomass and liquid fuels, medicinal plants, etc.

Principle 8:
Stacking
In permaculture design, stacking in time, space (using vertical space with trellis structures, etc.) and schedule (time x space) is often discussed. Stacking is important in terms of making human derived food production systems more compact so that larger areas of land can be put back into more natural state in the hope of healing the plant.

Principle 9:
Appropriate technology
In this principle, “appropriate” refers to its’ relation to the local culture. For instance, use of implements that are locally made, can be applied locally, and made use of with the skills of local people. Also, there should be less reliance on fossil fuels.

Principle 10:
Scale
A return to smaller scale agriculture in the pilot phase as we gain confidence for full scale permaculture. This is to attempt to balance technical diversity.

Summation
The challenge for the new permaculturist is to always come up with strategies on how to scale out programmers as well as to link her / his small activities with what is happening globally.

PREPARATORY STAGE 1
OBJECTIVES:-
(a) To design a gardening plan for model gardens.
(b) To collect and stock indigenous seedlings from nearest possible supplies.
(c) To source other necessary inputs for the model garden.
(d) To continue sourcing literature for “Permaculture” and develop a permaculture library.
(e) Establish a hands-on working group.
(f) Networking with permaculture associations around the globe.
(g) To develop strategies for forming women’s club “Women Managing A Healthy & Sustainable Life” (WMTOHSL)

STAGE 2
The main emphasis of this stage will be to hold permaculture training workshops on the model site. In this stage the community would come to view the first ever model garden in Malawi.

OBJECTIVES FOR STAGE 2
(a) To carry out hands on workshops with community members on the model site on members’ gardens.
(b) To draw a timetable for site visits to permaculture model garden by various sectors of society.
(c) To organize a field day to showcase the achievements of permaculture in the pilot project area.
(d) To co-ordinate and design at least one model garden at each of the rural schools practicing sustainable farming.
(e) To exhibit permaculture literature at two or three book fairs in the country.

STAGE 3
This stage will put a thrust on networking and expanding in the country’s provinces and other countries of the region.

OBJECTIVES OF STAGE 3
(a) To select the provinces where permaculture district pilot projects can be established and done.
(b) To network with sustainable-living organizations in the Ethiopia for possible establishment of permaculture sites.
(c) To participate and attend international permaculture forums.
(d) Display an actual permaculture garden at agricultural shows around the country.
(e) To display permaculture literature at book fairs nationally and regionally.
(f) To hold workshops nationally and regionally.
(g) To produce a bi-annual newsletter on permaculture farming in Malawi.

PROJECT BENEFICIARIES
Direct beneficiaries will be the community members at stage 1. Members of the public will benefit as they visit to view the permaculture model garden. Workshops participants will benefit from the hands-on activities. Women groups will gain confidence to manage their own gardens from the hands-on workshops; members of the public who come to view the project displays at agricultural shows around the country and at other conventions in both the northern and southern regions of the country. The SADC region will be exposed to the permaculture farming principles as we go to make displays at their fairs. Africa will also benefit from a threatening desert if its people accept that Permaculture is the solution to environmental destruction. The greatest beneficiary will be the earth as only its annually self-renewing element, soil is used.

EXPECTED RESULTS
(a) The permaculture model garden will be completed and put to use.
(b) Hands-0n skills for community members and workshops participants will have been developed so that they can take action to use the environmentally-friendly farming practices.
(c) The community and members of the public will be conscious of the sustainable farming alternative of permaculture.
(d) The permaculture model site will be used as a working example to further the permaculture farming philosophy.
(e) Videos on the step-by-step permaculture farming will be in circulation.
(f) Detailed documentation will be carried out and circulated to partners.
(g) Evaluation by an independent evaluator will be ready.
(h) A designed programme for the continuation of permaculture farming will be prepared; permaculture farming will continue to spread to all parts of the country.
(i) Number of constructed model gardens and quality of product.
(j) Number of participants, groups who visit the site, women, school children and members of the general public.
(k) Number of exchange visits with similar organizations.
(l) Summary workshops evaluations.
(m) Production of support materials such as books, magazines, pamphlets, newsletters, slide pictures and videos.

PROPOSED HOLLARD FOUNDATION/PERMAINTERVENE INTERNATIONAL 72- HOUR PERMACULTURE CURRICULLA [PDC].

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Introduction to SFEL. Course outline, references, materials and housekeeping issues.
1.2 Why learn the permaculture concept?
1.3 Historical background to permaculture, worldwide, relationship with African indigenous agriculture and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS)
1.4 Characteristics, ethics and principles of permaculture.

2.0 Ecosystems Blocks
2.1 Permaculture base is ecology.
2.2 Water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow, cycle of matter, succession and limiting factors to energy flow.

3.0 Resource Assessment
3.1 Why resource assessment
2.2 Water management and harvesting techniques, A-Frame construction and practicals.

4.0 Principles of Design
4.1 Procedures skills and techniques.
4.2 Observations, sectors, zones, deductions, maps, etc.
4.3 Taking advantage of different macro-climates in design.
4.4 Reduction of risks, energy use and selection of appropriate plant and other elements to implement on the design.
4.5 Observing different microclimates and creating various microclimates.

5.0 Soils
5.1 Traditional soil classification.
5.2 Observation of various soils and relates plant and animal life.
5.3 Types of soil erosion damage and types of soil repair.
5.4 Water in relationship to soil and soil rehabilitation.

6.0 Plants Uses in Permaculture
6.1 Nurseries propagation methods theory and practice.
6.2 Plants multiple functions in permaculture design.
2.2 Forests and guilds as air-conditioners, food, diggers, mulches windbreaks, etc.
6.4 Designing food forests by mimicking natural forest.

7.0 Nature Patterns
2.2 Creating highly productive designs/landscapes by integrating nature patterns e.g. spirals, linear circles, etc.

8.0 Productive Landscapes/ Designs
2.2 World climatic zones, appropriate and situational approach for the designer.
2.2 IKS of soils, water use and nutrients have always been sustainable.
2.2 Homebuilding and citing with productive landscape, comfort, health, energy consumption in mind.
8.4 Food gardens for the city and countryside.
2.2 Keeping water and soil in productive state and developing self-sufficiency.
2.2 Orchards as chemically food forests. Protective fertilizers, firewood species in the food forests. Use of small animals in food forests; chickens, ducks, turkeys, bees, guinea fowls, guinea pigs, and pigs.
2.2 Alley cropping and integrating large animals like cattle and game.
2.2 Dry land farming techniques- principles of erosion control – strategies, bunds, minimum till, port-holing, tied ridges, tied furrows, mulch farming, mixed and intercropping, etc.
2.2 Natural forests creation for provision of firewood, oils, dyes, bark, incomes, etc
2.2 Conserving remnant forests to build up corridors and various ways of promoting their growth.

9.0 Productivity and Sustainability
9.1 Weed management to acceptable levels.
2.2 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) – insect classification, structure and life cycle. Role of predators.
2.2 Vegetable and herb gardens-mandala garden design and construction, keyhole beds, organic materials and mulches.
2.2 Aquaculture production systems- fish, plants water plants, tortoise, etc.
2.2 Designing for natural disasters – drought, fire, war, storms, floods, etc so that the landscape recovers speedily.
2.2 Waste disposal-effluent systems animal waste, manure. Recycling pruning timber and composting.
2.2 Biotechnology and its effects today including GMO information.

10.0 Self-sufficiency
2.2 Building self-sufficient communities:-country skills e.g. weaving, crafts, small scale excess food packaging and processing
10.2 Ethical investments
2.2 Access to production base, the Land for the disadvantaged members of the community and legal protection for land ownership.
10.4 Preparing management and development action plans including monitoring and evaluation for the permaculture design.

11.0 Accreditation

Certificates will be issued in conjunction with:

11.1 Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre, Zimbabwe.
11.2 International Permaculture Institute, Australia.
11.3 Schools Colleges Permaculture Programme (SCOPE), Zimbabwe.
11.4 Regional Schools and Colleges Permaculture Programme (ReSCOPE)
11.5 Hollard Foundation will issue these certificates in consultation with Tichafa Makovere Shumba an internationally registered permaculture trainer and consultant who has worked in permaculture most Southern African countries, now on a one year as permaculture consultant in Southern Ethiopia.