This week’s blog comes from F2F Volunteer, Dr. Malcom Manners, an expert in nursery management and tropical fruit propagation methods. He is a professor and Chairman of the Horticulture Department at Florida Southern College and has completed over 16 volunteer consulting trips around the world. 

In late May and early June, 2017, I worked on a Farmer-to-Farmer project with Winrock in the Mandalay area of Myanmar. I’ve worked on numerous other F2F projects, and several of them have involved mango. I have to say this was among the best projects with which I’ve ever been involved!

I flew to Yangon via Orlando, Seattle, and Seoul, arriving late in the evening. I was met at the airport by Winrock staff and taken directly to my hotel. I had a chance to rest the following morning, then meet with the in-country staff in the afternoon. There, we planned out the exact itinerary for the project. The next morning, we flew to Mandalay, where we met with a couple of lead farmers, to interview them about what they perceived to be their major challenges, and what they’d like to get out of the workshops. Their concerns were very similar to those listed in the scope of work, so I felt well-prepared.

Mango basket

The next day was the first of a two-day training. We really didn’t know how many people would attend — 40 had preregistered, but they thought more would show, perhaps as many as 60. But when the crowd started arriving, more and more came, until we had 150 attendees! We had to move the meeting out of the planned building into an outdoor area. That caused some concern, in case it rained, but it ended up okay. We spent that day talking about nursery production of mango trees — variety selection (for local vs. export markets), seedling production for grafting, grafting techniques, and care of the grafted plants until they are ready for the orchard. The group was particularly interested in grafting. Mango trees in Myanmar are mostly grown from seed, and seedling trees take several years to get into production, growing far too tall for convenient harvesting or spraying. A grafted tree can be kept much shorter and will bear its fruit closer to the ground, and in fewer years, than would a seedling. Also, grafting guarantees that the tree will produce exactly the variety of fruit that the grower wants. Compared to other fruit trees, mango is also rather picky about how you graft it, and many propagators consider it challenging, to get a good rate of success. So we spent a lot of time talking about the fine points of the procedure, and the crowd was on the edge of their seats, in rapt attention! As a college professor, I can only wish my regular students had such enthusiasm for and fascination with the topics we discuss! We ended the day with live demonstrations of the methods we had discussed. A local TV station made a video of the entire event, and I was interviewed by them during lunch time.

Dr. Manners demonstrating grafting techniques for mango trees (recorded my local media).

The following day, we had nearly as many people show up for training, so again we were in the outdoor site. This time we did get a bit of rain, but not enough to shut down the program. We discussed production in the orchard — planting trees, tree spacing, plant nutrition and fertilizer programs, pests and diseases and their management, appropriate irrigation practices, and pruning techniques for mango trees. Again, the crowd was totally engaged, and we had another great day!

Bagged fruit to protect against fruit fly infestation

We had originally planned to go to another town to do a similar training, but the hosts there were not able to meet with us, so we changed the schedule a bit to visit with some orange and tangerine growers in Shan State, which is in a higher-elevation area and has a cooler climate. We had a good visit there with a nurseryman, and again, discussed grafting methods for citrus, as well as characteristics of fruit varieties and rootstocks. We also visited some orchards for a discussion of production problems. This was really a discovery mission, with the idea of developing a future scope of work for the area.

From there it was back to Yangon to work on the final report. I’m delighted with the outcome of this project — I think the growers will soon be producing high-quality grafted trees, and within a few years, that will revolutionize their ability to produce a high-quality, high-yielding crop, fit for the export market as well as increased local sales. And that’s what it’s all about!

I found the Winrock staff in Myanmar to be great people to work with — always helpful and thoughtful, and who made sure things happened as they should. I really appreciated that partnership as well.

This week’s blog features, Dr. Cheng-Sheng Lee, Executive Director of the Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture, an organization jointly administered by the Oceanic Institute and the University of Hawaii. He recently returned from a volunteer assignment in Myanmar where he provided training to catfish farmers and breeders at the Myanmar Fisheries Federation office and a practical training at Yangon University in collaboration with the the USAID-funded Developing a Sustainable Seafood Industry Infrastructure project in Myanmar.

Dr. Lee noted, “The best reward as a volunteer is to work with a group of trainees who are eager to learn. At the conclusion of the workshop, I saw several sub-groups were formed and talking to each other. Later, I was informed that they were organizing a small working group to facilitate communication in the future, it was so great to hear that. I wanted them to network at my first day lecture, but did not expect it would happen right after the workshop. They are one of the best groups I have worked with in my nearly 50-year career in aquaculture. It was so enjoyable to work with them. The local catfish farming industry will expand as the result of this workshop.”

One participant from Maubin University expressed his thanks, saying, “This training helped us organize catfish farmers from different regions and know the existence of laboratory facilities that can help us with testing and research finding.”

Dr. Lee expects that the workshop will lead to an increased number of farmers who will start to spawn stinging catfish during the upcoming spawning season, an increase in production of stinging catfish fingerlings, improved interactions and relationships between farmers and university faculty, an increase in university faculty and students’ interests in aquaculture, and increased communication of the working group following the workshop. Dr. Lee concluded by saying, “I felt my time with them was worthwhile and am inspired to continue doing more volunteer works.”

Dr. Lee in Twante Township, conducting an initial field visit of the catfish farms prior to training.

As a Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) recruiter, my role is to find volunteer agriculture experts that can provide the most positive and measurable impacts to our assignments. I receive the greatest job satisfaction hearing about the volunteers’ experiences and reading the updates from the field staff on impacts. However, it isn’t often that recruiters are able to witness these impacts first-hand. I recently had the opportunity to travel to Myanmar and Nepal to do just that.

In Myanmar, we visited two Farmer-to-Farmer host organizations, which provide assistance in livelihood development for local women in Pindaya and Nyaung Shwe. We then travelled to several villages to meet with the female participants of soap making and business management assignments to see how they were utilizing their training. What struck me was the hospitality shown during each visit. There wasn’t a meeting that didn’t involve green tea and delicious local snacks. We listened to the women’s stories of their opportunities and challenges in starting new businesses, while we munched on rice cakes and fried potatoes. They were excited to share their successes in making new soap products using avocado, tomatoes, lotus pollen, coffee, etc. A few groups eagerly presented their meticulous business management records that were created based on the F2F volunteer’s advice. The women’s groups agreed their ultimate goal was to see sustained profits and business growth. Many of these groups are already well on their way to achieving those goals.

One woman showing off her new soap products

While in Nepal, we traveled to Ramechhap district to meet with youth entrepreneurs who benefited from F2F training on business management. Entrepreneurship seems to come naturally to the people we spoke to. They work hard and have an eye for market opportunities. F2F training helped them build confidence to invest and make informed business decisions. We toured the plant nursery of one of the participants. His enthusiasm was infectious. He is proud of his successes, and the way he has grown his business after applying the techniques he learned in training. He wants to help other young people in his area and surrounding districts to experience the same. The sense of collectiveness in Nepal is inspiring. One can see that even the smallest amount of assistance can and will be replicated to build rural economies.

Binod showing off his plant nursery

In my role, it can be difficult not to view volunteer assignments in terms of flights booked, visas received, travel advances sent, and paperwork completed. It is easy to get lost in the minutiae of recruiting and mobilizing volunteers. Seeing these assignments and their impacts through the lens of a volunteer and the participant has heightened my sense of pride for the Farmer-to-Farmer program, Winrock’s field staff, and the work we do at headquarters.

I had met the country director of Winrock’s office in Myanmar, Dr. Ai Thanda Kyaw, about two years ago while on an assignment in Nepal. While in Nepal for a regional meeting, she expressed a desire to visit the birth place of Buddha. The site was near the town, where my wife, Mary, and I were on an assignment, and we were asked if we wanted to go with her to the site. Naturally we said yes. During our time together we discussed possibilities for one of us coming to Myanmar on a Farmer-to-Farmer assignment. About two years later, I finally made it.

Upon arrival to Yangon, I was struck by the cleanliness of the airport and how quickly one moves through the customs and immigration process which is a sharp contrast to many other developing countries that I’ve traveled to.

The assignment was to teach basic record keeping and financial management techniques to “farmers” in two regions of the country, Mandalay and Yangon. I put the quote marks around farmers as few participants are what we in the USA would call traditional “row crop” farmers. Attendees were citrus growers, mushroom growers, mango producers and processors, and vegetable producers.

In the capital city, I was expecting the urban and rural environment to be similar to what I’ve seen in other urban environments in the developing world, but I was entirely wrong. Both Yangon and Mandalay are busy metropolitan areas with multiple construction sites and heavy traffic.

The farms I visited were often down miles of bad roads, but they were well kept and from the production side, well managed.

After overnighting in Yangon, Dr. Thet Khaing (TK), Technical Officer with Winrock’s Myanmar office, and I, flew to the assignment site in Mandalay.

One of the most interesting items I had was a frozen slice of mango served on a Popsicle stick. One of the participants invited us to her farm after one of the training sessions, and besides growing mangos, she had a small processing plant where she peels, removes the seed, slices them in half, inserts the stick, and then flash-freezes the mango. They are then exported to Korea. They are delicious.

I was given several business cards, and the names listed became a point of discussion with TK. It seems the people of Myanmar have no last names (or surname in the USA). People have between two and four names, but one cannot discern who their parents are or any other family member from those names. We jokingly wondered what they would write down as the surname on any form needed to enter another country.

I want to go back to the assignment, and reflect on the entrepreneurial spirit exhibited by the people who came to the training. All seemed to be quite successful in their businesses even though only one of those attending said they kept any kind of records. It is a cash society with interest rates hovering around 20% if you can find a lending source.

I was blessed to receive several samples of products that were being produced by the members of the groups. They ranged from sweets to fancy flip flops. The sweets were consumed prior to leaving and the flip flops, upon arrival in the USA, were taken over by Mary as they were too small for me. Upon completion of the training I made the participants raise their right hands and affirm that they would start keeping good records. I guess the monitoring and evaluation phase of the assignment, which will be conducted in six to twelve months, will see if they have begun to do so.

The country director indicated there might be an opportunity for both Mary and I to return to the country, and we would welcome the opportunity.

Starting out with the Farmer-to-Farmer Program in Bolivia in 1987, I have had a long history of many projects in many countries. Most of my work has been in Latin America since I am fluent in Spanish from my wonderful Peace Corps years in Guatemala 40 years ago. A few years ago I decided to branch out into other regions with my work in soil erosion, agroforestry, and organic agriculture. In 2014 I accepted my first assignments in Asia to provide assistance in Burma and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, I worked in two small villages with a host named, “Hunger Free World,” on organic farming and farmer made input production. I was prepared for the beautiful green landscape I learned about through photos in books and magazines, but what I was not prepared for were the amazing people who befriended me in the time honored tradition of “being the guest.” I am looking forward to hopefully coming again in the near future.

F2F volunteer, Charles Mitchell, in Bangladesh demonstrating how to prepare an organic fungicide mixture to spray on vegetables to control fungal diseases

Small farmers around the world are eager to learn about organic farming techniques and ways they can improve soil and control diseases and insect pests using natural methods and safer inputs for the environment and human health. Profitability can improve since costs of production can be lowered. My three to four day workshops generally attracted around 30 participants including farmers, NGO staff, and a few government/university personnel. We spent the mornings in classroom discussions and the afternoons in hands-on demonstrations of fertilizer, fungicide, and insect repellent production. This is where the participants got really excited, but I made them sit through the classroom part to give the foundational principals of organic farming. Organic farming is more than input substitution of synthetic chemicals with natural products. Soil building comes first, then prevention, then inputs such as fertilizer and pest control materials. Farmers, including American farmers, seem to want to first reach for the bag or the bottle. Organic teaches a different way of thinking, where these products come last and not first.

In Myanmar, I volunteered to teach organic agriculture. Part of my workshops entailed hands-on demonstrations of farmer made input production. These were well received with enthusiasm. There were usually one or two participants who were especially keen to understand these formulations.

U Myo Naing’s EM product

On my first trip, one farmer in particular, was at my elbow the whole time recording in notes and video everything I said. On my second trip, a year later, to do similar workshops in a different part of the country, I was asked if I wanted to go see a farmer who seemed to be doing some of the things I was talking about. We went, and to my surprise, there was that same farmer, U Myo Naing, who was managing an organic farm with 5-6 other employees and using many of the organic preparations I had taught including: fungicides, insect repellents, bio-fertilizers and Effective Microorganisms(EM) compounds. Wow, I thought, rarely does a volunteer actually see their efforts put in action, due to the short term nature of our work! I recently returned to Myanmar for a third time, and the Winrock staff informed me that they had recently visited U Myo Naing’s small facility where he was manufacturing and selling various organic inputs on a commercial level.

This rewarding view occurs rarely in a short-term volunteer’s world. These are the small things, and satisfactions which happen in varying degrees. Most pleasures in volunteering are the daily interactions we are given in working with people of different cultures, but sometimes we are rewarded with the ultimate, and that is adoption of some of our ideas!

Charles Mitchell in Bangladesh giving instructions on how to prepare an insect repellent using organic ingredients and various plant leaves to spray on any kind of plant or crop to control insects.