Cohort number 4 which had 65 farmers from around Mchinji district just finished their permaculture training at the paradise, it was a marathon of 5 days and the farmers trained will now become lead farmers for other new farmers. The training run from the 29th August to the 2nd Sep 2022. We are expecting to produce 650 more farmers from this group. We are very excited to have finished this training as scheduled. Below are the highlights of the journey from day one to day five of the training.
Day 1 of the 5-day Permaculture Training where 65 new farmers are being trained to establish train other farmers and establish more food forests in the Mchinji district. We are expanding the food forest project and the goal is to have 2500 farmers establish 2500 food forests by January 2023. The long-term goal is to help farmers establish 100,000 food forests within 5
Trainees doing theory work, day 1
Brief introduction of PPI to the trainees | Day 1
Day 2 of the training was intensive practical based on soil science and management, 65 lead farmers who are participating said this is their first time to learn something which makes much more sense in addressing the challenges they thought could not be addressed.
Trainees learning soil science | Day 2
Trainees learning how to make compost to treat their soil | Day 2
Day 3 training update where 65 lead farmers are participating. Today we focused on designs for sustainable water conservation. Knowing that we have rain once a year, we taught our farmers modern and sustainable ways to conserve water to irrigate and keep the soil moist for a long time. this would have a very good impact on production because the plants will not go long periods without water in return increasing the chances of harvesting more even with fewer spots of rain.
A trainee learning a water conservation skill from a PPI trainer
Trainees applying some of the skills learned
Day 4 of the training Tree Propagation
Nursery establishment and management practices. Today we foucsed on Tree propagation and nursery establishment. One of the key elements of our training is to teach our trainees how to conserve land and water. And these are impossible without trees that is why we teach our farmers and encourage them to establish their nursery where they can plant their trees for sustainable purposes.
Trainees preparing nursery tubes
Trainees preparing nursery tubes
Day 5
- Organic vegetable production
- Integrated pest management theory
- Tree out planting practicals
- Integrated pest management practicals
Tree planting practicals
