Name is Pike Ng'oma, from Malawi the warm heart of Africa, a Board member for Hope Ministries International.
Hope ministries International-HOMI is a Non-Profit, Non-governmental Organization, Community driven, established to bring Equal Hope to the Hopeless and is registered as a Trustees Incorporation act in February 2017 with RG 20754/IM/5.2005 as a legal entity in Malawi.
https://youtu.be/E8TJLQO96G0
Hope Ministries implemented a pilot project on indigenous agriculture systems themed as *Enhancing indigenous agriculture technologies and crop association to reduce the impact of climate change.
Farmers and agriculture government officers are trained on how to practice the cheap farming technology.
INTRODUCTION OF THE FARMING SYSTEM.
Extreme weather events will become more frequent and more severe as the Earth continues to warm.Malawi will continue to suffer inordinate damage from both drought and floods because it sits on the dividing line between two regions that respond in opposite ways to El Niño and La Niña events. The edge between these responses shifts North or South depending on ocean currents.The world, was imposed with agricultural systems that we now know as traditional or conventional agriculture.
Those agricultural practices have damaged soil throughout the world and they have left a legacy of poverty and hunger.The ground was left bare; exposed to the rain, wind and solar radiation.This has left most farm soils eroded, nutrient poor and unproductive.
This form of agriculture, which relies on ten thousand years of farming experience for its effectiveness, has 7 vital components:
Crops are planted on one meter wide raised beds.
People are never allowed to walk on the raised bedsThe soil surface is not disturbed, except to harvest root crops.To form the beds, a ditch or channel 18inches wide is made on each side, where the falling rain is captured and where the farmers walk and move in order to work on the beds.
In the ditches, tied ridges are left every 5 meters to ensure that the water does not drain off the field. This insures that 100% of the rain is captured in the soil. This also insures that the entire field has the same amount of moisture in the soil.
After the beds are formed, they are covered with organic matter, (mulch) that provides shade for the soil and prevents evaporation of moisture, providing a healthy environment for worms and beneficial microorganisms. The mulch protects the soil from compaction and erosion and protects the plants from various diseases. The organisms make the soil fertile, protect plants and deliver water and nutrients to the plants.
The odors of a diversity of crops growing in the beds repel insect pests and therefore they reduce the number of insect pests that damage plants and transmit diseases.
-Over 200 farming families in Malawi, have adopted the indigenous farming of raised beds.-
This make production very resistant to droughts and flooding.The soils that used to grow crops in the Indigenous American system did not suffer erosion because they used raised beds, covered with mulch, connected by tied ridges. Once the raised beds are constructed, they last for hundreds of years.
Mulch also feeds the beneficial microorganisms and also provides minerals to crops for its health growth. Mulch is also a Weed control; if thick enough, weeds that sprout cannot make it through the physical barrier, significantly reducing the amount of weeding that is required.. Those nutrients are what naturally feed plants.
It is vital that farmers learn to produce in an increasingly variable climate.They also must improve soils, increase production and make profit.Women in rural areas are more often affected by poverty, climate change, health and financial impacts, and global pandemic makes the situation even worse to handle.
Women inclusions play much important roles in solutions to improve their communities and the nature.
Currently more than 200 farmers are following and adopted the system, in Malawi. We arw in three districts of malawi. Many families have improved in their ressilience.
The system is sustainable that's why farming families have adopted to it.
REASONS FOR ASKING DONATION To provide;
Seeds of different types
Water canes
Wheelbarrows
Waterpumps
Seedlings of different types
Vines
Hoes
Shovels
Picks
Training materials
Field day activities
Measuring tools
Boreholes for winter farming
Exchange farm visits
Simple logistics
Monitoring and evaluation
Currently we have five volunteers in this project and no one is on payroll.
No one is paid salaries.
Pilot project was funded by Overseas Economic Development Initiative HYPERLINK "http://www.oedi.org" www.oedi.org . For more about our organization, follow our facebook page link and see what we do. HYPERLINK " https://www.facebook.com/834676836638191/
May God bless us all as we fight effects of climate change together.
