"MAKING IT WORK"



IN KENYA - EPISODE B

A village somewhere in rural Kenya which you can visit (click on it)
Everything what matters to rural people in Africa seems to be there.

THIS IS ONLY A VIRTUAL VILLAGE - IT IS AN ILLUSION!
In many nations, women are the main food producers - in rural Africa, they do 80 percent of the work. They are more likely than men to spend income on food, and as the main meal providers, they are the key to family nutrition and health. But women and girls are, ironically, less food secure than men and boys. In many societies, they eat last and get less. Three-fifths of the world's women suffer from anemia, and between 20 and 45 percent don't eat the recommended 2,250 calories per day - even when doing heavy labor.

In many parts of Africa the soil has become infertile due to overuse and erosion. The use of pesticides has gone up 10 times since World War II, but damage to crops by insect pests has doubled. Water resources have become scarce. Forests have been diminished.


THIS IS THE REAL PICTURE IN KENYA:




In the Uttoni area of Machakos District in Kenya, several farmers have rediscovered some of the planting practices of their parents. Joshua Mukusya and his wife Rhoda have discovered that the combined activities of contouring the land, planting grass barriers along the edges which both stabilize the hillside and produce fodder for the animals, using a mix of plants with varying root depths that extract nutrients from different soil levels, and intercropping legumes and grains has had a positive impact not only on the land itself, but on their farm production.


What Joshua Mukusya and his wife Rhoda are involved in is called:
PERMACULTURE

Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural eco-systems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people supplying their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without sustainable agriculture there is no possibility of a sustainable social order.


Permaculture is a practical concept applicable from the balcony to the farm, from the city to the wilderness. It enables people to establish productive environments providing for food, energy, shelter, material and non-material needs, as well as providing the social and economic infrastructures that support them.


Permaculture means thinking carefully about our environment, our use of resources and how we supply our needs. It aims to create systems that will sustain not only for the present, but for future generations.


Here you can access more information about history and meaning of Permaculture:


Here you can access more information about history and meaning of Permaculture:






Characteristics of Permaculture
Permaculture is one of the most holistic, integrated systems analysis and design methodologies found in the world.

Permaculture can be applied to create productive ecosystems from the human- use standpoint or to help degraded ecosystems recover health and wildness. Permaculture can be applied in any ecosystem, no matter how degraded.

Permaculture values and validates traditional knowledge and experience. Permaculture incorporates sustainable agriculture practices and land management techniques and strategies from around the world. Permaculture is a bridge between traditional cultures and emergent earth-tuned cultures.

Permaculture promotes organic agriculture which does not use pesticides to pollute the environment.

Permaculture aims to maximize symbiotic and synergistic relationships between site components.

Permaculture is urban planning as well as rural land design.

Permaculture design is site specific, client specific, and culture specific.



Don't panic, go organic!

GEORGE MSUMBA OF RBO

REPORTING FROM KENYA


"A cheap healthy way
to keep pests out of your crops"
14'36" / LISTEN



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