CPAR Study Tour 2008

CPAR Study Tour 2008 has officially begun in Karatu. After a dusty, dusty walk around Karatu yesterday, the group convened at the office this morning for a brief briefing before heading out to pay a courtesy call on the District Commissioner and then continue on to see Rainwater Harvesting in action in rural primary schools. Japhet's briefing included him sharing his dismay while in Canada last year at seeing Africa portrayed in the western media as a continent of war and hunger and hopelessness. His hope is that the study tour will reveal a whole different side of 'Africa' -- one of motivated people working hard (much harder than anyone should ever have to work actually) to improve their lives.

One member of the study tour, Sarah Swan, is blogging the experience. Check it out at http://www.cpar-studytour2008.blogspot.com/

Check out UMATU Centre!

UMATU Centre is roofed and the finishing work -- plastering, doors, windows, painting, etc. -- will now begin.

Quick Update on UMATU Centre

We are getting very close to the 'mabati' stage. The 'mabati' (iron roofing sheets) will be on in no time. There is a lot of illegal treecutting going on throughout Tanzania. The timber you see in the photo has been legally and responsibly harvested from a managed woodlot on the slopes of Mount Meru in Arusha. For every tree harvested, a tree is planted.

Nane Nane Agricultural Fair

A huge group of us -- 44 farmers, District Extension Officer, 6 CPAR staff and 3 university students on field placement with CPAR -- had a really good time at the Nane Nane Agricultural Fair. We looked at different varieties of jam, honey and cheese, and checked out juice, tea and wine made from the rosella plant. In addition to maize cakes and biscuits, we tasted delicious 'lablab' cake. Lablab is the legume that CPAR promotes among our Karatu farmers both as a cover crop to protect and enrich the soil, and as a nutritious protein for household consumption. We saw a huge 32 kg pumpkin, a 7 foot long stalk of bananas, decorative clothing made from goat hide, and really cool furniture made out of rice husks mixed with soil. The farmers enjoyed visiting demonstration plots of vegetables, maize, sunflower, banana and fodder. They had the opportunity to meet other farmer field school members both from Karatu and other districts, and exchange ideas and experiences about livestock keeping and crop techniques. They were really impressed by the pig and dairy goat husbandry demonstrations. They shared information from their own dairy goat activities, and were keen to learn more about pigs since they are in the process of starting piggeries.

UMATU Building Site Today

This is how things are looking at the site today. The next step will be roofing. On another note, tomorrow we are taking 44 farmers (22 women and 22 men) to the Nane Nane Agricultural show in Arusha. Nane Nane is a public holiday in Tanzania. It is held on the 8th day of the 8th month (August 8th). That's right! "Nane nane" is "eight eight" in Kiswahili. It's a day for farmers, and others, to exchange information and ideas and get inspired. We're hoping to get some new ideas on agro-processing and adding value to farmers' products.