We began by going to the AVRDC (World Vegetable Centre) just outside of Arusha. These folks do, as you would expect, research on vegetables. And they do it for the world, as well as for East Africa. And this is not esoteric. For instance, there is a fly which has come from South America whose larvae are destroying the tomato crops in all of Africa. They are desperately working on a treatment that is biologic, not insecticides (which don't work anyways). They are developing new types of known vegetables with new characteristics. But their work is all open-source, and available to anyone who wishes. And the seeds they supply must be able to be passed on to others (ie, no hybrids). And they are looking at ways of keeping vegetables for longer between their picking and their sale, in a climate that works against them and in a country that can't afford refrigeration. And looking at ways of transporting these veggies in containers which do less damage when they are placed in trucks that bump along roads in the country. For me, this is real research, looking at the betterment of farmers.
And then we went to River Usa, and to a local farm in Kikwe village run by a woman who has used the Farm Radio broadcasts to good effect. This woman learned to better grow and market her produce, and with the extra money she had (over many years), has been able to build a new, four-room house with a small solar panel on the top for electricity; built a water-storage tank to help with irrigation. (This is becoming a real problem: this year, the rains in January-February did not come for the first time in memory. They have had no rain since July, 2016! It is very dry.) She listens to the broadcasts on a solar-powered radio with a group of other women farmers, meeting once a week to do this. These women then discuss the broadcast, sometimes interact with the radio program (see the previous post), and work together in some ways to benefit them all.
We had lots of questions, and they answered them all with humour and honesty. An impressive group of women ranging in age from about 24 to over 50, most with several children, some with husbands who stayed at home to mind the children while their wives went to the community listening group. We spent a long time there, about twice what they had planned for, because it was so interesting.
So we were late for the second farm visit, to a man who runs a small farm with livestock (2 cows, about 8 goats, and many chickens), as well a growing some cash crops, including vanilla. He is involved in developing biogas and using it, and gets enough from the manure his animals produce to keep a stove going whenever he requires it. He has developed a wonderful way to grow veggies in a round, beehive-shaped garden about six feet in diameter.
And he has the vanilla, which I learned needs a companion vine to grow on, and also needs to be hand-pollinated to produce for market (on its own, it would only produce about 20% of the possible crop). And this man is a small man in his sixties, and full of energy.
We were then off, late again, to Mulala village where we were to stay at Mama Anna's co-op for the evening and overnight. Again, this is an amazing woman who has built herself up from very little into a going concern. She and the other women (there are about six others), along with a few men, have a cow that they milk, chickens, bees. They produce coffee (very well) and cheese (delicious) and butter and ghee for sale. And they act as a bed-and-breakfast.
They met us when we arrived with singing and dancing, and got us involved as well. We had snacks, and then watched and tasted as they harvested some honey from their stinger-less bees, ensconced inside a log. It was delicious.
And after this, we had supper. This was a Tanzanian supper with fish (specially for us as their honoured guests), Irish potatoes, beans and a bean-and corn mash which was quite good, amaranth, bread, biscuits, mixed vegetables (cucumber, okra, red onion, carrots, beans), and a cabbage salad. We were well-fed.
Anecdotal side story: when we got there, and unloaded the bags, we discovered that my bag was missing, along with that of Kevin, the CEO of FRI. They were good enough to track them down and get them, even though that meant driving the hour back to Arusha and then another hour back to the camp. We were grateful, both to the staff, and—for myself—to the other participants who lent me what I needed for the night.
They had planned a camp-fire for us, and most went to it. But I was too tired and retired to my tent. We were all in tents, ten overall with five set up for couples, and five for singles. We slept on the ground, on a mattress, and I slept well, in spite of the local dogs which barked until 3 AM, when they turned over duty to the roosters, until 6AM. Then I got up, joined the others who were up to the foggy morning (we were again denied the possibility actually seeing Mount Kilimanjaro), and had a morning coffee (yum!) before breakfast. After breakfast, I and about half the group went on a walk through the upper part of the village. This is a very different way of living than we experience in Canada. The plots are small, often seem to be significantly less than an acre. There is mixed farming on each of these pieces of land, most with corn and bananas, often with spider plant, amaranth, sweet potato, sometimes Irish potato (what they call any potato that is not a sweet potato), and some beans. We were introduced to the "peace plant" which they use to settle disputes, to the uses of various native plants, including marijuana.
People would go by with carts, and sometimes on motorcycles, with lots of produce in their loads. Women, usually, would go by with large plastic buckets on their heads filled with water from the local tap. Being Saturday, the children were around home, so we saw a lot of them. Houses were small, and yards were small but immaculate and usually freshly swept. We learned that motorcycles act as single-person transports as taxis, as courier services, as delivery vehicles. They can make their owner some pretty good money (for here), and only cost about $750 to buy, so are plentiful. And sometimes, they are the only way to get somewhere on motorized vehicles.
Many fields were empty and being prepared for the coming rainy season. As I mentioned in my earlier post, there is a small rainy season in January/February, which did not come at all this year. Then there is a longer one which usually comes about mid-March through to June or July. So this is when they plant, not according to the seasons that we are used to, but according to the rainy seasons.
As we walked on, we passed under a thirty-foot tall avocado tree, with a woman up the tree about twenty feet, cutting the avocados so they fell down for collecting by two others on the ground. They pick them before they are fully ripe, so the fruit will withstand the fall. Then they let them ripen at their homes. We got a bit of rain on our way along, but certainly not enough for the dry ground.
We had to get back to the camp,so we could leave and go to Moshi to another radio station. This was radio Sauti ya Injili, a station owned by the Lutheran Church, but which is committed to providing a good service to local people. They also use scripts and programs through FRI, so we wanted to stop and see them. We spent there some time with their (female) program manager, and talked with them about what they do.
This one station broadcasts in an area from the Kenyan border to Dar-es-Salaam. They say that their farm programs reach lots of farmers, and that in their catchment area, about 80% of the people farm to some extent. Most of these are the small mixed farms we saw on our hike in the morning, so this was not a surprise to us.
And the technology is amazing as well. What used to take three people and a hundred pounds of equipment, now can be done with one person and something the less than the size of a deck of cards. We were impressed.
But then to a restaurant in town for a lunch before getting back to the lodge in Arusha, again late, for the evening. Some of the participants went out to the wedding of the main Manager of the local office, but I did not.
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