• About
  • Our Work
  • Join
  • Partner
  • Media
EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for monthly updates on Winrock's work around the world.

Volunteer Blog

VOLUNTEER BLOG

Farming as a Banking System

Small Acreage Farming in Kaduna, Nigeria

Posted on April 10, 2018

On February 9, 2018, Farmer to Farmer (F2F) volunteer, Teresa Morris, arrived in Abuja, Nigeria on her first visit to the country and her first F2F assignment; to provide a training-the-trainer workshop in Developing Curricula and Training of Trainers in Farm Administration and Management to Nehemiah Foundation International.

Dr. Morris is a soil scientist who works with the Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS), USDA as an Organic Farming Area Specialist. She also works as an Adjunct Professor at the Saint Louis University; teaching beginning soils to graduate and undergraduate students for the Earth and Atmospheric Science Department. Dr. Morris was kind enough to write the below about her experience: 

I was thrilled when I received an email inviting me to join the volunteer team of Winrock International. My credentials matched me with a volunteer position in Kaduna, Nigeria working with small acreage farmers interested in sustainable farm management. The Host for this project was Mr. Emmanuel Nehemiah of the Nehemiah Foundation.

As I learned more of Mr. Nehemiah’s vision for local farmers to support Kaduna’s community I became excited about the development of the training. The focus of the training was agriculture that incorporated ecological principles with the development and building of organic matter related to on-farm money. I refer to this method as “farming as a banking system” and soil organic matter is the currency. I began the training by showing the farmers the actual nutrients and money associated with 1% organic matter. This idea caught their attention and from there the training was off and running.

During the four day training, we visited local farms and discussed methods of farming that would retrain and build soil organic matter. The farms were beautiful as were the farmers. I was honored to learn from them and share what I have learned from my career as an agriculturalist and as an educator in soil health and ecological farming. The challenges these farmers faced was tough. Lack of tools, weather, seed, and working with pastoral grazing were just some of the everyday tasks on their list and yet they produced a crop every year.

Back in the classroom, I showed slides of soil science technology and ecological farming methods. As the day progressed, we as a group discussed the science as well as the methods to assure everyone understood how farming using soil ecology was cost effective and would save them money as well as restoring their natural resources. Each day of the training was filled with lively discussions regarding how Kaduna could adopt ecological farming and work together to provide produce to the local community. It was wonderful.

The whole experience was life-changing. I truly enjoyed working with the farmers and the Nehemiah Foundation to formulate a practical manual for guidance on ecological farming. I also enjoyed showing the farmers how the production of soil organic matter would save them money.

Upon leaving, my new friends of Kaduna welcomed me back in the future, which I would enjoy!

Very Best,

Teresa Morris, PhD

Posted in AET, Africa, Nigeria, Volunteer Feedback | Tagged AET, agriculture education & training, capacity building, community development, Farmer-to-Farmer, international volunteer, knowledge transfer, Nigeria, senegal, Winrock

Rippling Outward

The Transfer of Knowledge Helping to Empower Women and Feed Families

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Michael Bassey, F2F Nigeria Country Director

In the summer of 2017, Awakening Nigeria for Agricultural and Agro-Allied International (ANAAI) participated in training held by Winrock volunteer Anna Snider, working with Farmer to Farmer’s Agricultural Education and Training Program (AET).  The training focused on homestead vegetable gardening using sacks and containers to help farmers, and others currently not engaged in farming, to embrace vegetable farming.

Volunteer Anna Snider with Members of ANAAI

ANAAI works with mostly female farmers in the Kaduna State of Nigeria and is dedicated to helping rural and urban poor boost their agricultural strengths which in turn enables them to better feed their families. In most parts of the state, lack of available land and socio-religious beliefs, some women aren’t allowed to come out in public thereby depriving such women of the opportunity to participate in food production, to receive useful and current information, and educational opportunities and technological innovations that could be of help to them and their families. This lack of opportunity put many mothers and children at risk of malnutrition.

Sack gardening allows for space maximization, water conservation, and ease of practice while keeping financial requirements low, and improving nutrition, food security, and income. Many of the at-risk women have enough space within their fenced premises to grow food to support their families as well as earn some income by sacks/container farming. This helps empower women to take an active role in feeding their family while also interrupting the cycle of malnutrition, which especially hurts children and women who are pregnant.

ANAAI took to sack gardens with great enthusiasm, establishing their own and spreading what they had learned:

“This training has opened up our mind, now some of our women who don’t have land to farm can grow their own vegetables; above all we now know the importance of eating right and eating vegetables. We shall give this training to other women. We are glad we had this training.” Yahaya Hamman, farmer.

Fast forward to January 2018, when Nigeria based Winrock International staff visited Kaduna on a routine impact survey. During the survey process, ANAAI informs the program staff that one of their member organizations, Thinkers Children Foundation (TCF), who had participated in the training on vegetable sack gardening went on to introduce and train school students and their families.

Thinkers Children Foundation (TCF) was founded in 2015, with a vision to give free primary education to children from internally displaced families, orphans, and the underprivileged. As part of TCF’s corporate contribution to national growth and development, it educates children and spreads awareness on the dangers of illiteracy. From 3 pupils in 2015, TCF has expanded to 80 pupils actively attending classes.

TCF students on the floor of their school

On that chilly morning in January, F2F staff arrived at TCF, where nearly 80 pupils were present, seated on the cold concrete floor in their makeshift school. They greeted the visitors with smiles and a chorus of ‘good morning’s. Inspired by the pupils and their enthusiasm, F2F staff pulled together their personal resources and donated 25 school desks to the foundation, complemented by 12 dozen notebooks.

Desk Delivery!

The F2F team was told that many of the pupils were practicing sack gardening at home.

TCF pupils hold up the victory sign and show off their container gardens

Of the many pupils practicing sack gardening at home, one such practitioner was 8-year old Abdulhakim and his 5 years old sibling (Abubakar), who took the message home and taught their mother. In an interview with F2F staff, Abdulhakim’s mother told the team that she is not only practicing sack culture but that she has trained three other women who are also actively practicing sack culture. She noted that adopting the sack and container culture has resulted in improved nutrition and savings in the cost of food for her and her family. She also reported that more and more women are making inquiries about how they too can grow vegetables in sacks and containers.

“I used to think that it is only when you are in the village and have land that you can farm. Sack farming is so easy to practice, requires minimal space and water, does not require rainfall; the benefits are just unthinkable. I no longer buy vegetables for my family and as a matter of fact, I give some of our daily harvest to our neighbors and will begin selling soon. This is exciting and pleases my husband so much.’ Maimuna Ibrahim, mother to Abdulhakim and Abubakar Ibrahim.

To see a video on how to make a sack garden, check out the Winrock Volunteer’s Facebook Page! 

Posted in AET, Africa, Nigeria | Tagged AET, agriculture education & training, Farmer-to-Farmer, international women's day, Nigeria, people-to-people exchange, Winrock Volunteers, women

February Volunteer of the Month

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Michael Bassey, F2F Nigeria Country Director

On August 21, 2017, the team from the Thunderbird School of Global Management Emerging Markets Laboratory (TEM-Lab), Craig Pearson, Fungai Mandaza and Rachel A, arrived in Nigeria to work with the Center for Entrepreneurship Development and Vocational Studies (CEDVS), Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti. The trio went to support CEDVS’ quest to establish and manage a business incubator center.

Team Ubuntu’s first day tour of the CEDVS

Incubation centers offer business creation and income generating opportunities to young and aspiring people and provide them with facilities and services that most business start-ups have difficulty in procuring – spaces, electricity, communication, start-up (inception kits), advisory support, training, information and access to external resources (finance and markets).

Soon, the team realized that nearly all the CEDVS faculty misunderstood what a business incubator is.  Many faculty members when asked, gave answers describing business accelerators, workshops to practice classwork and practical skills, libraries, or lounges.  Faculty could name some characteristics of an incubator but only a few truly had grasped the entire concept. Both the trio and the hosts remained flexible as the original scope of the project changed to address this issue.  Everyone realized a business incubator would not be successful if the people running didn’t understand what it was.

After recognizing this crucial knowledge gap, the team came up with some creative activities to inform, as well as change mindsets. Demonstrating great professionalism, team spirit and cultural sensitivity the team formatted a group discussion style training session. The students were asked questions about entrepreneurial challenges they have faced, then taught how an incubator may ease these challenges.  The initial discussion was very abstract and theoretical, so the team performed a role-playing exercise to better demonstrate what it would be like to be an incubatee in an incubator at the CEDVS.

The incubator role-playing exercise did a very effective job of conveying to the students what an incubator would be to them and how they may use it as a resource.  In an exit survey of the 62 participants, 100% of the students said that they had a better understanding of what a business incubator is now that they did at the start. 100% of the students that responded also said that they would be interested in becoming an incubatee in an incubator at the CEDVS.

Volunteers survey students who attended the training session on business incubators.

The team also took the faculty on a study visit to an existing incubator. The faculty was able to speak with the leadership of these facilities at length and tour the incubation space.  They developed a much deeper understanding of what business incubation is. This experience spawned many new ideas on how to apply such a concept at CEDVS.

 



Team Ubuntu learning about the Design and Textile class at CEDVS

 

The assignment left a lasting personal impression on the team.

“It was a fulfilling experience to see the understanding blossom across the faces of the CEDVS staff members we worked with. Once the initial barrier of unfamiliarity with the concept was breached, confusion gave way to enthusiasm for the new idea that holds much promise for the institution. It was both fun and educational to learn about the Nigerian culture spanning weddings, dancing, and gender, in addition to what we gained out of the work.”

Follow the links to read more about the teams’ experiences with Nigerian culture!

The Farmer to Farmer team in Nigeria nominated this team of volunteers because of their professionalism, excellent team spirit and cultural sensitivity to the many diverse facets of the Nigerian people. Also commendable was their ability to combine the project tasks provided by the F2F Program with their group reporting as well as individual assignments submitted to their home institution faculty – they coordinated these so well that the F2F assignment did not suffer in any way and all deadlines were met to the satisfaction of everyone involved.

Winrock F2F Nigeria Director Mike Bassey, CEDVS coordinator of Textiles Oyebode, and Team Ubuntu’s Craig Pearson

Posted in AET, Africa, Nigeria, Volunteer of the Month | Tagged AET, capacity building, Farmer-to-Farmer, Nigeria, Thunderbird, Winrock Volunteers

Agroecology in Africa: Focus on Soil Stewardship in Senegal

Making ecosystems economically viable, socially just and environmentally conscious.

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Rachel E. Schattman, Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer

This week’s blog comes from Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteer, Rachel Schattman, a Produce Safety Specialist with the University of Vermont and a post-doctoral fellow with the USDA Northeast Climate Hub. She has worked in agriculture for 19 years, either as a farm worker, farm owner or extension specialist.

I have been working in agriculture, either as a farm worker, farm owner, or Extension specialist for 19 years. Recently, I volunteered with Winrock International in Senegal. I accepted the assignment because I was eager to see how farmers in other parts of the world ran their businesses. I was especially excited to see how people grow crops similar to those I am familiar with in a very different climate and soil type.

I volunteered in the Theis region of Senegal, which spans the coastal area between the national capital of Dakar and the colonial city of Saint Louis. In this region, several thousand vegetable farmers grow a diverse range of crops including peanuts, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes, cassava, and many more. Many farms belong to cooperatives, and these cooperatives are often federated under a single entity.

One such federated co-op, the Coastline Vegetable Producers Union (UML), has a leadership that works diligently to promote the interests of its members. For example, in recent years, they have attracted international funding for an onion drying facility which allows for some members to export onions for the first time. Since 2015, they have partnered with Winrock International to bring agricultural experts to Mboro to train co-op members on agro-ecological practices. I was fortunate to be the third volunteer brought in by Winrock to work with UML. As part of my assignment, I was asked to develop and give a 5-day workshop, to share what I know with the remarkable farmers of UML and I took the opportunity to learn from them in turn.

Volunteer inspecting compost made by UML farmers

I began my volunteer period in mid-September, 2017 with two-days of field visits. On the first day, Winrock field staff Saliou Ndiaye, Ndiame Sene and I met with the President of UML, Soyibou Diaw, at UML headquarters in Mboro. The secretary of UML, Abdoul Aziz Sow, as well as several other members were also present for our discussion on the assignment and some common practices that I would likely see on our field visits. We then visited the farms of two members of UML located near Mboro (Soyibou Diaw, the President of UML, and Galaye Samb, another UML member) Both farmers showed our team the compost they had made following a previous Winrock training, and were eager to discuss how they were applying compost to their fields as well as the challenges they faced.

On the second day, we visited three farms in Joro, north of Mboro by 30km. Our hosts were kind enough to let me try my hand at tilling with a donkey, which was a first for me. Several plots that we observed were on significant slopes and we observed soil erosion related to rainfall and irrigation. Efforts to mitigate the erosion included redirecting water flow through hand-dug trenches. It was clear from these two sets of visits that the farmers of UML are driven by a desire to improve their production practices, and eager to experiment with new growing techniques.

Volunteer getting a chance to try tilling with a donkey.

After the visits, Saliou and I worked together to develop and translate a 5-day training course on soil health and nutrient management based on my observations from the fields and UML’s training requests. Approximately 30 UML members attended the course, which was held in the Mboro town hall. We started the week by covering 5-principles of ecological agriculture: (1) recycling biomass, (2) managing organic matter, (3) keeping nutrients in place, (4) diversification, and (5) synergy. Each principle was accompanied by examples of on-farm management approaches. In response to questions posed by UML participants, we also discussed the specific nutrient needs of crops grown on their farms, how to calculate the nutrient amounts in purchased fertilizer, and a comparison of nutrient amounts contained in a variety of fertilizers (including compost).

Participants practiced calculating nitrogen (N), potassium (P), and phosphorus (K) concentrations in fertilizer mixes based on the weight of the bag and percentage content in the fertilizer mix. I brought with me a home soil test kit and refill pack to use as a demonstration and to leave with UML.  In the last lecture of the workshop series, I showed how the coast of Senegal around Theis is already impaired by nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, and we discussed the importance of not over fertilizing for the protection of coastal areas.

I hope that the workshop provided useful and usable information to the UML farmers. As a volunteer, the experience of working with UML and Winrock was extremely valuable to me. Having only conducted extension and education in the USA, this assignment allowed me to work with growers in a completely different economic, ecological, and social context. It was a challenging and exciting exercise that forced me to return to the basic principles of agro-ecological agriculture, and apply it to an area that is almost the opposite of where I am from, in terms of soil characteristics and climate.  I was impressed and humbled by the UML farmers; there were several farmers, with whom I spoke at length, willing to try new practices, even in the face of a prevailing social pressure to maintain the status quo. The excitement and enthusiasm of the UML farmers is very contagious.

Farmer explaining to the volunteer how he makes his compost

I was very fortunate to work with a skilled professional, Saliou Ndiaye, who not only provided language translation, but also helped me to understand the social norms and expectations of the farmers and their communities. An agricultural professional himself, Saliou was able to help me distill key topics (such as soil pH, and cation exchange capacity) into terms farmers understood easily. Beyond the trainings, my time with Saliou and other members of the Winrock team in Senegal helped me to develop a deep appreciation of Senegalese culture, embodied in their teranga (hospitality) and generosity. I have a deep appreciation for the Dakar-based Winrock team, and I thank them for making this assignment a truly excellent experience.

Posted in AET, Africa, Senegal, Volunteer Feedback | Tagged AET, agriculture, agriculture education & training, Farmer-to-Farmer, knowledge transfer, senegal, volunteerism, Winrock

A Simple Way To Grow Food: Sack Gardening

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Dr. Anna Snider, Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer

Dr. Anna Snider traveled to Kaduna, Nigeria over the summer to work with  Winrock International host organization, Awakening Nigeria for Agro-Allied International (ANAAI),  a women’s group that promotes sustainable and smart agriculture in urban communities. Dr. Snider provided train-of-trainers in homestead vegetable gardening using sacks and containers. After the training, Yahaya Hamman, host member, commented the following “This training has opened up our mind, now some of our women who don’t have land to farm can now grow their own vegetables; above all we now know the importance of eating right and eating vegetables. We shall step down this training to other women. We are glad we had this training.” 

Last year I had a great time working with leaders of farmers’ organizations and extension workers, so I was happy to have a chance to come back to Nigeria to work with the Winrock team again.

This time I built sack gardens with members of Awakening Nigeria for Agro-Allied International, an NGO in Kaduna. The idea is that the members will spread this knowledge to people in the Internally Displaced Persons camps, adopted villages and women who are less able to get out to the fields because of cultural reasons or insecurity. Sack gardening is almost as simple as it sounds: gardening in a sack instead of a pot. But it gets interesting when we use really big sacks—100-pound rice sacks or even larger. With a sack that large you have a large space for planting on top, but you can also cut slits in the sides and plant some leafy vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, kale or even onions. That multiplies your space and allows you to plant a small vegetable garden in the space that you could normally have just one tomato. Drainage becomes a problem with such a deep sack, so we have to add a column of gravel to help the water get all the way to the bottom.

You can see in the video how we used a large metal can with both ends cut out to form the column of gravel. As the sack is filled with soil, the can is filled with gravel. The can is slowly pulled up to guide the placement of the gravel. (On a side note, I ate a lot of canned tomatoes to get enough cans for this workshop!)

Just like my last experience in Nigeria, the participants were active, curious and eager to get involved. In two weeks I worked with three groups. Each group build at least one sack garden, and one enthusiastic group built six sack gardens, experimenting with different plants and soil mixes.

But just growing more vegetables doesn’t improve nutrition. I also taught a nutrition component to help the participants improve family nutrition. Since the sack garden is perfect for growing leafy green vegetables, it is a great tool for Nigeria’s biggest nutrition problems– vitamin A and iron deficiencies.

Just a few weeks later the emails and photos are already coming in. Members of the ANAAI have already trained other members of their communities, including residents of an IDP camp in Kaduna. And the results keep multiplying!

To read more and view her video, please follow the link: http://www.annasnider.net/ to Anna’s blog.

Posted in AET, Africa, Nigeria | Tagged AET, people-to-people exchange, volunteer feedback
ABOUT FARMER-TO-FARMER WINROCK VOLUNTEER ASSISTANCE

SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS

Loading

ARCHIVE

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011

CATEGORIES

  • AET
  • Africa
    • Ghana
    • Senegal
  • Asia
  • Bangladesh
  • Cuba
  • El Salvador
  • Ethiopia
  • Field Staff
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Latin America
  • Mali
  • Myanmar
  • Nepal
  • Nigeria
  • Postharvest
  • Rural Livelihoods
  • Senegal
  • Spotlights
  • Volunteer Feedback
  • Volunteer of the Month
  • Winrock Staff
WinrockIntl
Tweets by @WinrockIntl
Follow @WinrockIntl
« Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Page »

204 E 4th Street | North Little Rock, Arkansas 72114

ph +1 501 280 3000 | fx +1 501 280 3090

2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 700 | Arlington, Virginia 22202

ph +1 703 302 6500 | fx +1 703 302 6512

  • Contact
  • E-News Signup
  • Low Bandwidth
  • Code of Conduct
  • Winrock Privacy Statement
  • Site Map
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © 2015- Winrock International
DEV ENVIRONMENT