Plant a tree!

The long rains are upon us, and have been for a while fortunately, so tree planting has been in full swing. With Earth Day 2010 looming, this seems like a good time to talk about the multi purposes and endless benefits of trees in Tanzania.

First, the macro benefit. Simply put, trees breathe in carbon dioxide, which poisons the air and contributes to global warming, and breathe out oxygen which is essential for life. It thus makes good sense to plant trees and use them responsibly.

Popular trees around here include fruit trees like guava and papaya which contribute to a healthier diet. Cassia trees provide shade and firewood, and serve as a windbreaker to control soil erosion. They beautify the environment with their bright yellow flowers.

Croton Megalocarpus provide building materials, live fencing, firewood, fodder, shade and medicine. Their leaves enrich the soil.

Grevillea Robusta are widely used among farmers for agroforestry because they grow fast, help control soil erosion, don't compete against food crops for nutrients and sunlight, and their leaves help to replenish the soil. They also attract bees. Other uses include firewood and timber.

The Acacia family is amazing. Acacia Drepanolobium, the mbalimbali tree, supplies firewood, fencing material, goat feed and is used to construct toilets. Acacia Xanthophloea, also known as the fever tree, is a source of building materials, live fencing, fencing posts, firewood, fodder, soil improvement through nitrogen fixing, and medicine. Acacia Tortillis, the umbrella thorn, is great for hosting bee hives, live fencing, fibre (rope), firewood, construction of furniture, tool handles, needles and even dye.

Manihot Glaziovii is a drought resistant species that provides shade and serves up vegetables during the lean season.

The Neem tree in addition to providing magnificent shade is used as a natural pesticide and has multiple medicinal uses.

Firewood is the main source of energy in rural households so ongoing tree planting is vital. People understand that. There is a big demand for seedlings. We have a tree nursery in our office compound which is becoming increasingly popular.

World Water Day 2010

Kids and rainwater at Mikocheni Primary School

Water! Here in rural Tanzania, we think about it and we worry about it constantly. Happily, it rained heavily on Saturday night and again last night. We were concerned that "the rains" had stopped in which case farmers, food production and the entire Karatu water supply would have been in trouble. Now it seems that "the rains" just might be continuing... but of course we can't be sure.

The theme for this year's World Water Day is "Clean Water for a Healthy World". Our Rainwater Harvesting project in rural primary schools harvests rainwater off school rooftops to provide clean water for drinking and handwashing which can then be recycled for cleaning classrooms and latrines, and planting trees.

Under our Food Security program with local farmers, we will be exploring other cost-effective forms of rainwater harvesting, such as plastic-lined open storage "tanks" made of earth, and the use of simple water technologies like treadle (foot operated) pumps to lift water from its source, and gravity-fed drip irrigation systems using tubing and buckets. We are presently training groups of women in Kambi ya Simba village to use these micro irrigation technologies to create large vegetable gardens. More on that later...

Conservation Agriculture in Zambia

Zambian farmer Maryo Lazaros showing his farm field

CPAR Tz was invited by the African Conservation Tillage (ACT) Initiative to go on a study tour to neighbouring Zambia to see Conservation Agriculture (CA) in action and learn from Zambian farmers. Deo has returned to Tanzania with some new ideas to try out with Karatu and Bunda farmers. He met farmers in Zambia using special hoes, called "shaka" hoes, to dig basins for planting maize. For farmers who cannot afford CA equipment such as the Magoye ripper (about $200), this is a more economical approach to practicing minimum tillage CA. It involves using a rope and shaka hoe to dig a series of basins in a straight line at even intervals for planting maize.

The Farmer Field School members in Karatu are impressed by the shaka method and have chosen to apply it in their fields. The good news is that it has finally started to rain in Karatu so the planting season for maize is happening now.

Karatu FFS members digging basins

Another discovery in Zambia was the Msangu tree (Faidherbia Albida). This indigenous tree is referred to as the winter shade tree because, unlike most trees, it loses its leaves during the rainy season. The leaves are mulched into the soil, enriching soil health, and the tree doesn't compete with crops for sunlight. As a result, crops planted close to the winter shade tree do very well.

Zambian CA farmers are also rotating maize and soy crops. Soy beans have multiple advantages -- they are nitrogen-fixing so enrich the soil, they are an effective cover crop and they are very nutritious. The farmers process the soy beans by first boiling them for 45 minutes to remove trypsin, a toxin, and then they are dehulled and dried in the sun. The soy beans are then milled to produce soy flour which is used for porridge, ugali and soy biscuits, or mixed with cassava flour to make soy-cassava cake. Soy flour fetches a good price on the market, much higher than soy beans, so we are checking out the potential market for soy flour in Tanzania.

Back to Blogging...

After a slight break in blogging, we're back for 2010! Our Bunda basecamp is up and running and Bunda farmer field schools are at work in their fields. Bunda's major growing season is November-December while Karatu's big season is starting now.

We provided ox ploughs to members of Karatu Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in November and December, and distributed short maturity papaya seedlings from our tree nursery for planting around households. The recipient farmers will in turn serve as a source of papaya seeds for other community members. Most recently we've been delivering improved maize, lablab and pigeon pea seeds to FFS members to establish revolving seed loan funds. After harvest, they pay cash for the seeds into the revolving fund, and are then able to purchase seeds in bulk the next planting season to distribute to a greater number of farmers. We actually purchased the lablab seeds from our FFS farmers from previous years, who continue to collaborate successfully in Savings and Credit Cooperatives where they pool their funds to provide loans to the members.

Our problem now is the lack of rain in Karatu...

World AIDS Day 2009

On the occasion of World AIDS Day, we'd like to celebrate PLWHIV (People living with HIV) who are making a difference.

In August 2005, when ARVs (anti-retrovirals) finally arrived in Karatu District, two brave women joined the treatment program and asked CPAR Tanzania for education about HIV&AIDS. We started a support group for women living with HIV and provided access to small business loans. By December 2006, 35 women strong, they decided to go public with their status by marching proudly and loudly through the streets of Karatu.

Today, CPAR Tanzania's "partner", UMATU (Upendo na Matumaini) (Love and Hope), is an NGO of 60 women living "positively". And they haven't stopped shouting. We partnered with them to do education outreach and counselling of PLWHIV and other community members. People increasingly sought them out for information and education.

In 2007, Canadian journalist Valerie Pringle heard about UMATU and initiated a fundraising campaign in Canada for construction of UMATU Centre, a multi-purpose complex housing office and meeting space, training centre, handicrafts and bakery/future café.

As UMATU built their capacity to plan and deliver dynamic outreach education, in 2008 they received funding from the Stephen Lewis Foundation to implement an education outreach project. This led to increased levels of testing for HIV in Karatu District, and many more HIV positive people joining the treatment program. The positive results UMATU achieved then led to a second grant from the Stephen Lewis Foundation this year to continue their outreach education.

UMATU has dealt a severe blow to stigma and greatly raised awareness and understanding in Karatu District. At UMATU Centre, they are busy baking bread & cakes, sewing cloth handbags, making beaded jewelry and renting out their training centre, all with a view to making sales and achieving sustainability. Out in the community, they are educating people about human rights, gender issues and HIV&AIDS, encouraging women and men to test, know their status and take action. They are now facilitating new support groups of women and men together.

The women of UMATU are an inspiration to everyone they meet, and an important example of the amazing things that can be accomplished when people come together to support each other.

UMATU members themselves say it best:

I feel so empowered now that I know that other women
here are in my position…

My life has changed so much since joining UMATU - we get
educated here and with this knowledge, we educate the society...

I feel so good that this group has gotten this far, we are really helping each
other, we advise each other and we make each other happy just by being able to
talk to each other about living with the virus...

Everyone, from family level to District level, knows our HIV
status. This has encouraged many women to come out and join our group, and now men, who were the biggest obstacles in the families, are coming forward for
education.

There is hope to live, that’s part of being a member of UMATU. We meet every Wednesday, we share life stories… there is really a lot of hope.

I have so much hope right now. I know that death is necessary; I killed all my fears and worries. I mean honestly, everyone has a day to die, and mine will come but not because of HIV&AIDS.

Say NO - Unite to End Violence against Women

Today is the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women" and the first day of the "16 Days of Action against Gender Violence Campaign". The right to live violence free is a fundamental human right denied to many women and girls living in areas where gender based violence (GBV)is endemic. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), among women between the ages of 15 and 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined.

In Tanzania, 1 in 3 women have at some point been physically and/or sexually abused by their partner. In a society where women have traditionally been considered to be inferior to men, acts of GBV, including intimate partner violence and rape, can be seen as normal and acceptable. In typical "blame the victim" fashion, women and girls are often blamed for causing or provoking GBV. Blame and shame prevent women and girls from speaking out, reporting to authorities and seeking treatment and support for GBV. The situation is worse in rural areas due to lack of access to information and distance from services.

During our first participatory baseline exercise in rural communities in Karatu, GBV raised its ugly head most often in the form of "marital rape". While preparing the “Activity Profile” -- an endless list of their daily activities from early morning to bedtime --women described the “husband regime” at the end of the day. Exhausted by arduous physical activity with no time to rest, the "husband's regime" was the last demand required of them before they could finally go to sleep. During our most recent partipatory baseline exercise in Bunda District, GBV in the form of "household conflict" appeared on the Seasonal Calendar as a routine "activity" that occurred in the time period immediately following harvest.

GBV is a major obstacle to women's "empowerment" and the achievement of gender equality, a central goal of CPAR Tz's work to improve Household Food Security. We therefore tackled the issue right at the beginning by incorporating GBV in our Farmer Field School (FFS) curriculum along with Human Rights, Gender Equality and Sexual and Reproductive Health issues. For example, we'd be standing with FFS women and men in the middle of a farmer's field, examining the crops, and raise the subject of domestic violence. Farmers, men especially, began to make the link between violence against women and women unable to concentrate to work productively in the fields.

Last year we went back to our first community in Karatu to take a closer look at the impact of our approach. Through household questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews with farmers and leaders we learned that there had been a dramatic shift in gender relations and the position of women in both the household and the community. Village leaders reported that women were speaking out in community meetings and asserting their right to equal control over household resources. Farmer Field School women and men reported that next to an increased year round food supply, greater self-confidence, improved relationships between husbands and wives, and a marked decrease in household conflict were the most important changes that had occurred as a result of the project. Greatly encouraged by these results, we are committed to continuing to keep gender issues including GBV front and centre in everything we do.

We talked about Violence against Women at UMATU's weekly meeting today, and they brought up lots of examples in Karatu such as FGM (female genital mutilation), wife-beating, discrimination against widows, etc. We will be campaigning together over the next few weeks, engaging women and men in discussions on human rights and GBV, and UMATU specifically will be addressing the link between GBV and HIV& AIDS.

“Our goal is clear: an end to these inexcusable crimes - whether it is the use of rape as a weapon of war, domestic violence, sex trafficking, so-called “honour” crimes or female genital mutilation/cutting. We must address the roots of this violence by eradicating discrimination and changing the mindsets that perpetuate it.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message for the International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women
25 November 2009

A Word on Conservation Agriculture and Farmer Field Schools

We often refer to Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) without explaining clearly what they are. Considering that CA and FFS are the foundation of our Food Security Program, for those of you who are interested, here goes:

Conservation Agriculture is an approach to crop production that aims to increase and sustain high levels of production while at the same time conserving the environment. As practiced here, it's based on the application of three principles:

1. Maintaining a permanent vegetative soil cover through planting cover crops and leaving crop residues on the field to protect the soil surface from wind and water erosion;

2. Minimum disturbance of the soil by planting directly through the mulch to maintain the soil structure and retain moisture in the soil;

3. Intercropping two or more crops. For example, the staple crop here is maize which is a shallow-rooted plant that extracts nutrients from the soil. Pigeon peas on the other hand are a leguminous crop with deep roots that can break down the hardpan (compacted soil caused by repeated plowing) and fix nitrogen in the soil, thereby contributing to a healthier more productive soil. Intercropped together, maize and pigeon peas compliment each other.

Farmers, especially subsistence farmers, never put all their eggs in one basket. Understandably, they take a cautious approach to any changes in their methods of food production. The practice of Conservation Agriculture entails a significant departure from conventional agriculture. We therefore start with women and men farmers coming together to form Farmer Field Schools, which are "schools without walls" where farmers can share information and experiment and learn together in a participatory process facilitated by CPAR Tz. They start by applying the CA practices together in an experimental plot over one cropping season. They meet regularly to closely observe their fields and document the progress. Once they see and experience for themselves the positive effects, for example less labour due to no clearing of the land; no soil erosion during heavy winds and rainfall; and a bigger yield at the first harvest, they take the methods home to their household farm. Some farmers start practicing CA on their own plots immediately, others wait until the harvest before they are convinced that this is an approach worth trying.

Farmers from Karatu and Bunda Districts have now completed their formal training in Conservation Agriculture. The intensive training was conducted on a training of trainer basis for 20 women and 20 men farmers who have now returned to their communities and will help CPAR Tz train many more farmers in newly formed Farmer Field Schools. An important component of the training is use of CA implements such as the hand operated jab planter which plants through the soil cover, and the draught animal powered ripper which cuts furrows through the soil cover and places the seed directly in the ripper furrow. Other CA equipment exists but to keep the costs down we focus on the jab planter and the ripper along with ox ploughs for mulching the cover crops and crop residues into the soil.

And that, in a rather large nutshell, is Conservation Agriculture 101. The impact of Farmer Field Schools on farmers, on the other hand, goes way beyond learning new agricultural methods. At risk of boring our readers, we'll leave the wonders of FFS for another posting.