El Nina has well and truly settled in, the plains of Canberra a vividly green, dams are full and rivers a rushing downstream to reach the coast. Keyline properties will be fully recharged and swale designs are being tested. We are seeing extreme weather events not only here in Australia, but all around the world.
But, with 10 years of Permafund Australia activity, there’s lots to celebrate. Why don’t you join us, the Permafund Team, and host a long table lunch under the lush foliage of your garden?
Now more than ever, let’s come together and feast on the abundance your work has provided. Let us think about our growing global community of people, the less fortunate and cook or prepare something from a culture other than your own. Use and value diversity.
Put on a feast, whether it’s a Kenyan or Indonesian, Nepalese or Indian inspired night, that is up to you, share the love through food. Ask people for a donation, whatever they can afford, and let us continue the great work of Permaculture direct action globally.
Donations to Permafund are shared with grateful recipients who put their grants to work in a wide variety of creative environmental and community building projects around the world . All donations are warmly welcomed. Donate here.
Permaculture for Sustainable Communities in Kenya has provided this report after receiving a Permafund grant of $2,000 to promote local food that is more climate-friendly and less energy-consuming to improve food security and support a vibrant, resilient community.
The project was implemented in the Matungu District in Western Kenya for period of a year. It was to help the marginalised communities to grow their own healthy food during the COVID-19 crisis as a powerful way to reclaim communities and change the dynamics so that people would have wealth and power to combat hunger and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The community was able to invest in new tools for the project
As background, Permaculture for Sustainable Communities reports that it’s estimated that 42% of Kenya’s GDP is derived from natural resource related sectors such as agriculture and forestry. These sectors are highly sensitive to climate change, a fact that makes rural based economies highly vulnerable. In the agriculture sector for example, smallholder farmers are the backbone of the economy, generating about 70% of their agricultural production while also being the custodians of precious agro-ecosystems. Conversely, land, water resource base and populations whose livelihoods and food security are dependent on such resources have been subjected to the vagaries of land degradation, deforestation and the declining productivity of croplands. This has undermined the sustainability of food systems and productivity of natural landscapes.
To address these challenges, the Permaculture for Sustainable Communities project focuses on the development of regenerative farming to rebuild healthy community gardens as a nature-based solution for addressing ecosystem degradation and build climate change resilience.
Training including women and girls
It is therefore a practical intervention that serves as an entry point adaptation strategy to improve the productivity, efficiency, profitability and fairness of production from the landscape while also establishing an approach that builds rural land restoration. In essence, the ecosystem-based adaptation approach will ultimately reduce environmental impact of production while addressing food insecurity. To ensure that the natural environment is conserved, enhanced and managed for the benefit of present and future generations, the project focuses on building healthy soils.
All ages are involved in demonstrations
The long-term goal of developing sustainable food systems is considered a high priority for Permaculture for Sustainable Communities.
Activities carried out included the training of farmers in permaculture practices and skills, the distribution of farm seeds and tools plus monitoring the project and evaluation of the outcomes.
Working with the landscape to capture water in the soil
Project achievements: Through the intensive training of 50 farmers in organic farming, synthetic fertilisers are now not used in their farms. Building and maintaining a rich, living soil through the addition of organic matter is a priority for the farmers as the solution for sustainable healthy soil for healthy food production.
Hand watering new planting
The community’s farmers have knowledge in planting and then tilling in cover crops, which help protect the soil from erosion off-season and provides additional organic matter. They have learned about non- tilling and digging in of nitrogen-fixing cover crops, such as mucana or thithony whihc also adds nitrogen to the soil. Cover crops are commonly planted before or after the cash crop season or in conjunction with crop rotation and can also be planted between the rows of some crops, such as tree fruits.
Maize established in prepared field
The farmers have been in trained in pest control. They can make organic pesticides that are derived from naturally occurring sources. These include living organisms such as the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, which is used to control caterpillar pests, or plant derivatives such as neem, alvora and peepe leaves.
Organic pest control integrates biological, cultural, and genetic controls to minimise pest damage. Biological control utilises the natural enemies of pests, such as predatory insects (e.g., ladybugs) or parasitoids (e.g. certain wasps) to attack insect pests. Pest cycles can be disrupted with cultural controls with crop rotation the most widely used.
When local varieties of crops disappear, this can compromise food sovereignty and the ability of a community to access culturally appropriate food at a fair price. The region’s farmers are turning to traditional planting of numerous crop varieties that are resistant to specific pests and are diseases to restore food sovereignty in the community.
Abundant harvest ahead
Finally, because of a permaculture practices and knowledge the farmers have harvested plentiful green vegetables for home consumption. Two farmers have established herb gardens. Beans, maize, soya beans and potatoes have been harvested, making the region a food security hub.
Home gardens for vegetables and herbs
The project has benefited 50 farmers directly and benefit 350 directly.
From the project outcomes lessons have been learned.
There are multiple benefits from teaching farmers about building healthy soil by making organic fertiliser, including green manures, designing and adding swales into gardens to increase soil water content, growing native seeds, improving soil pH to benefit plant growth, increasing the availability of P and K and increasing microbial activity.
Gathering up the harvestPreparing for harvest collection
Learning together with community members has led to improved problem solving and more effective work strategies.
Collecting the harvested maize
Through the supply of seeds and farm tools farmers worked harder to rebuild acidic gardens into organic food producing farm systems that have produced food security for many beneficiaries.
Working in groups helped many farmers learn how to establish herb gardens both for human medicine and for insect repellent.
The community working together helped permaculture knowledge reach more people in regions where many need this education.
The harvest ready for distribution
Challenges.
Long droughts are making certain crops to fail.
More encouragement needed for local climate- resistant crops to be grown.
Support needed for the community to adapt to setting up small home gardens irrigated by water harvesting. A shortage of tanks to capture water from rooftops is an issue.
The shortage of farm seeds and tools to equip more farmers is a problem. For example in one village you may find that only one home has a wheelbarrow.
A wheelbarrows is a valued asset
There is a high demand among farmers for training in permaculture practices and the establishment of working farm models. Financial support is needed to replicate the project in order to reach more people.
Donations to Permafund are supporting community organisations like Permaculture for Sustainable Communities around the world. Contributions of $2.00 of more are tax deductible in Australia and can be made here.
Do you represent a community organisation in a region recovering from the past year’s many natural disasters and catastrophic events? If so, now’s the time to consider applying for a Permafund micro grant.
Focusing on the theme of resilient communities, Permaculture Australia’s Permafund is welcoming applications for grants to support permaculture- oriented projects that are preparing your community to withstand disasters such as bushfires, food shortages, cyclones, drought, floods or disease or helping your community recover from any of these challenges.
Demonstrating how to make liquid fertilser
Soil improvement & seed distribution workshop
For example, the micro grants are available to support community projects working to install and restore food production, water harvesting and renewable energy systems, to protect and re-vegetate habitats and build community resilience.
To apply, the Application form and Grant Guidelines are available here to download as PDF and Word documents.
Please send the completed form and any supporting documents to permafund@permacultureaustralia.org.au before the closing date of Sunday 30th August 2020 ( midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time AEST).
Permaculture Australia’s Permafund plays a unique role in the worldwide permaculture community through its micro grant program that distributes donations received from individuals, businesses and fundraisers.
In 2018 the Integrated Rural Development Society (IRDS) of the Salem District, Tamil Nadu successfully applied for a Permfund micro grant to conduct training workshops for 50 tribal farmers from the Mannur, Alamarathukadu, and Poomarathupatti villages in the Kalrayan Hills.
Farmers with an interest in permaculture and new agriculture methods were identified with the help of farmer leaders before being introduced to the project’s goals and main activities.
Seed varieties shared during workshop
A series of workshops were conducted covering permaculture and organic agriculture methods to maximise return from the same land in multiple ways, the control of weeds by intercropping, making liquid fertiliser to increase micro-organisms in the soil and water harvesting to improve soil moisture.
Liquid fertiliser demonstration
Seeds and seedlings were distributed to increase the diversity of vegetable and indigenous grain crops being cultivated. The project has helped the farmers lessen their reliance on outside inputs and improve their harvests for better food security.
Intercropping increasing yields
On behalf of the tribal farmers, the IRDS team has expressed their sincere thanks to Permaculture Australia and Permafund for the partnership, cooperation and support that’s enabled the organisation to implement this important project in their community.
The activities of the Integrated Rural Development Society include raising awareness of the importance of protective, preventive health practices including providing clean drinking water and good sanitation. Â Other major issues addressed by the organisation are the empowerment of women, environmental protection, HIV and AIDS awareness and health development through alternate medical practices such as naturopathy and yoga practices.
Farmers working plots as small as a third of an acre have agreed to implement permaculture techniques as part of a matched grant program around Begnas Lake in Nepal.
Hillside farms overlook Begnas Lake
With the Nepal Permaculture Group they are creating a local hub for a network of farmers who are cooperating to discover and demonstrate the advantages of organic farming.
In the 2018-19 grant round Permafund helped kick off a farm improvement project with a workshop for farmers in the Kashki district.
The main objectives of the workshop were to:
introduce people involved in permaculture and similar philosophies to the network and provide a forum for sharing their expertise and experience.
identify the skills in the networks of organic food marketing in Nepal
find ways to establish an organic produce & market network in Pokhara
build a local Resource Centre to promote permaculture and related philosophies
work as a pressure group to advocate and lobby for a more sustainable society.
The farmers produce fruit, vegetables, medicinal herbs and livestock
Beekeeping adds to the mix of produce
The farmers agreed to
continue to improve their farms for at least seven years while also receiving technical and other support from the state government,
coordinate and collaborate with other farmers in their areas,
keep records on costs and benefits to help analyse the difference between a conventional & a model farm
base their work on organic and permaculture principles
to report on their farm’s progress on a quarterly basis
to establish their farms as model farms in their area with at least two farms to be utilised as local resource centres.
The support from Permafund has helped the Nepal Permaculture Group coordinate the resource centre and model farm initiative which is encouraging and empowering farmers and inspiring their communities.
