FAO Proposed Template for Agriculture
Suchuan Emergency Country Programmes - 04.07.2008.
Contact: Peggy Bradley, IISH
Phone: (417) 876-0441 email:
Project Summary:
Country / China, SichuanTotal number of people killed / 69,175
Total number of people affected / 30 million
Total number of households affected / 5 to 10 million
Total number of agriculture/livestock based rural communities affected / 30% of province
Estimated agriculture sector damage in US$ (in terms of direct and indirect loss) / 6 billion dollars
Government counterpart/lead institutions / Sichuan Agricultural University, Heifer, Chinal, Institute Simplified Hydroponics, others
FAO HQ technical focal point / Micro gardens using simplified hydroponics as supported in Bolivia and Senegal – organic hydroponics as practised in Cuba, Solar greenhouse structures as built in Bolivia. fertilization and irrigation from gravity fed water supply as practised in Israel.
FAO HQ operation focal point / Sichuan Agricultural University (potential)
FAO field focal point / Training Centre set up in permanent camps, with collaboration of interested NGO, Government and UN groups.
Proposed dynamic and progressive programme structure to be developed as assessment information comes in:
1. Programme Background and Justification
On 12 May 2008, Sichuan was impacted by a tremendous earthquake that destroyed many of the homes and public buildings in a long section of the province. The earthquake also caused disruption of the food supply putting 30 million people at risk of food shortages.
There are at least 4.5 million people now homeless, and 500,000 tents were supplied to this population group so at least that many households are severely affected by the earthquake. For those who lost their homes the Chinese government has allocated 10,000 yuan ($1458.00) for housing and recovery.
This proposal intends to assist affected residents begin growing their own food, to help returning residents learn how to grow fresh vegetables using modern intensive agriculture techniques. The use of simplified hydroponics (SH) to grow food means that the organic or inorganic fertilizers are added to the plants water supply. Simplified hydroponics is an adaption of the modern plant growing technique of hydroponics. In SH, power sources such as electricity, testing or artificial lights are required. No chemical pesticides are used and organic nutrients are used when available.
At present writing, many of the families are still in camps, waiting for return to their homes. In a few cases the former areas are no longer inhabitable. For those people still in camps, the proposal suggests offering a training course in microgardens. For those participating, supplies are offered of a starter kit of the necessary seeds, substrate and nutrients to begin a seedling grower.
For those who attend the course, further classes are offered in garden operation. For those wishing to continue, an advanced class is proposed on solar greenhouse as a heating device for their reconstructed homes. The solar greenhouses can supply 220,000 BTU day in sunny weather. That is as much as 21 kilos of oak firewood, 220 cubic feet of natural gas or 5.68 liters of fuel oil.
2. Programme objectives (next 6 to 12 months): these include:
This programme recommends and provides infrastructure to incorporate a partnership of .
1. The training will be done firstly to the local extension agents and they through multiply process will train the growers.
Sichuan Province Ministry of Agriculture
Sichuan Agriculture University
Heifer –China
SACOG Israel
Institute of Simplified Hydroponics
FAO
This proposal sets up a regional training center for the people of Sichuan. It’s purpose is to offer alternative food growing technologies to the single family farm or dwelling. It features research and training on simplified hydroponics for microgarden and microfarms, organoponics, organic gardening, dwelling attached solar greenhouses, and other technologies that can help the small farmer or homeowner grow their own food or increase their income.
This regional research center begins as a community outreach, bringing training and materials to affected communities. It uses modern communication tools such as the internet and television broadcast to help introduce the technologies.
The centre emphasizes the importance of a local agricultural extension service. Such a service should have a regional net in order to be in contact with the needed rural and urban societies. This human resource could come from the entities mentioned and many volunteers.
This program encourages an operational approach on Regional Agricultural Research and Development (R&D), system. The partners encourage the participation of all groups: communities representatives, local authorities, local Agricultural Extension agents and local agricultural researchers to cooperate together to advance the project.
The partners will form two committees : a project leading committee to set the objectives and operation system and a professional committee to supply the know-how, experience and operation. The foreign experts proposed by this project will work with the R&D system mostly the extension.
Once established the research center continues its mission to bring these technologies to people in need. Foreign nationals from needing countries are invited to come and share agricultural practices. The center emphasizes small scale gardening, solar greenhouses, microfarming and adaptions suitable for Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture.
Immediate Actions
The end point of this program should be many affected families having a producing vegetable garden. trained in simplified hydroponic gardening, with seedling growers growing new seedling starts for their first gardens. The seedling growers should have starter plants ready to transplant in about three weeks.
Simplified hydroponics is usually introduced through a three day course that includes video training, some lecture and mostly hands on work of building growers, The course is most successful when taught to about ten families or less, often neighbors, relatives or friends from the same community. The three day training course then becomes a beginning of a local support group for the gardens. The whole family is invited to the training, even very young children.
First Tasks
· Arrival of a technical expert in simplified hydroponics to the area of displaced people. Assuming the families are still in emergency shelters, the first task is to present the training materials to the leadership groups in the camps. The technical expert brings training materials, and the necessary materials to set up a single demonstration garden in the emergency shelter area. This includes a pallet of materials including tools, black plastic, plastic containers, substrates, nutrients and seeds.
The technical expert is given a space of about 100m2 to set up a demonstration garden and begin training master trainers. A poster is set up in the camp and camp members are invited to participate in the training as a potential source of income or a volunteer position. Training sessions are organized to begin the process of setting up the demonstration garden.
· Technical expert works with local authorities to begin the process of manufacturing garden fresh start kits to be assembled in the garden training area. This requires a locked space for materials. The kit includes seeds, substrate, nutrient, and organic pest control aids. As the fresh start kits are assembled, posters are put up in the camp to encourage people to sign up for training sessions. Sign up sheets are kept on at the garden space and sessions of three days begin for those who have signed up.
· As technical expert is working, international NGOs are assisting in obtaining the necessary materials for the fresh start kits. This requires collaboration of several groups to ensure donations are directed to locally obtained materials, and actually arrive at the training center.
· There may be as many as 500,000 affected families that could wish to participate in this training process. If this is so, it would require 50,000 training sessions and 500,000 fresh start kits. One method of accomplishing some of this training is to utilize the Easy-Gro Training Course of nine classes 21 minutes long. This training will reduce the lecture time of the trainer, and will help families to decide if they wish to participate. The present training course is produced is translated and republished in Chinese languages or other target population languages. After translation the DVD can be used to expand the training.
1. To reach contact with 500,000 families will require a very sound extension regional service, ( perhaps few thousands of extension agents) . Such a service will take care on many other topics including SH, Micro Gardens, greenhouses etc. The training will be done firstly to the local extension agents and they through multiply process will train the growers.
· Training is offered o those who wish to participate. This is a three day course, with hands on training that allows the family members to interact together learning the technology. Each training course encourages local traditions to be introduced and discussed among the participants. The group being trained together can become a support group. The initial Master Trainers are enlisted to help in the training sessions, and operate the demonstration garden. When ready, these Master Trainers may go to affected areas where the families have returned to their lands to begin the garden training in their regions.
· As the people are trained and begin their seedling growers, some may wish to continue to learn how to build a solar greenhouse to house their animals in winter, provide heat for their new homes, provide year round or near year round fresh food supply.
· After about three weeks from the point of beginning training, the seedlings will be ready for transplanting into larger growers. The participating families are offered supplies to build these larger grow out beds. Know technologies include using plastic containers, building tables out of recycled materials, building troughs from stones. For those still in camps, the growers can be a second training workshop of a day.
Training Course offered in Local Villages
· For those families that have already relocated in their villages, a local training course can be offered to the locals through a poster campaign. Again the participants will receive a seedling grower, seeds, nutrient and substrate.
· In the local regions, for those who wish to participate, a second training session is offered in building a solar greenhouse as a lean to for a home. This training session is a weeklong and builds a demonstration greenhouse for a family participating. The solar greenhouse course includes rainwater harvesting, bio digester, and drip irrigation training.
· The solar greenhouses can be built at very low cost. They require a roof area of a roll of plastic of ten foot by 100 feet that should cost less than $50 and should last through the first winter. It can also be used as human shelter through the first winter, or shelter for animals.
For those who successfully grow their seedlings, transplant and grow the plants, there should be fresh foods in 30 days, and 1.4 kilos of fresh vegetables a day in 90 days. The climate and available clean water will have an impact on this success.
3. Programme medium and longer terms objectives (1 to 5 years)
The initial training center becomes the “Regional Agriculture Research and Development (R&D), Center.” It maintains its mission of helping the smallest farmer and adapting technologies for microgardens and microfarms. It emphasizes bringing in both students and instructors from around the world to learn from each other and improve home gardens to improve food security around the world.
The attitude in every class, in every lecture, is collaboration. There are many successful agricultural practices around the world that are used by local farmers and not generally known. This university values the wisdom and practices of the farmer and offers classes as possible improvements for local traditions.
4. Target beneficiaries (criteria for identification, selection, priorities and participatory approaches)
The initial target beneficiaries are those affected by the May 12, 2008 earthquake.
In the long term, the established training center should be available for international cooperation on dissemination of technologies useful for the very poorest of our people.
Each camp will have displaced families, living in temporary shelter, relying on imported food supplies. Any families in need are the target beneficiaries; however, a televised class of 3 hours of instruction will bring the technology to the general population as well.
5. Programme emergency outputs/results (these should be defined in terms that permit their verification in quantity, quality and time and be consistent with project objectives)
Each family that participates in the training should complete the training with a seedling grower with started seedlings. This cost of the initial kit is estimated at $25.00 and the cost of the training estimated at $300.00 per group. The training includes building larger growers in assorted materials and requires paying a technical advisor or master trainer to do the training.
Placing posters in the camps, organizing the training, providing kits and completing the course will cost about $550.00 per session, and should include about 10 families per session. It should all be voluntary, with no or low cost to the family, but no rewards beyond the seedling grower supplies should be given. If 500,000 families participated this total cost would be $27.5 million dollars.
A second session for the solar greenhouse can be offered to those participating, and that would have a cost of about $1500.00 assuming a prototype is built. This cost needs to be estimated in the area, in the villages because the actual structure will need to be adapted for the area. Assuming only one in five families would wish to participate in the solar greenhouse training, the cost would be an additional $15 million dollars.
6. Indicative work plan (show critical implementation and delivery dates)
This project proposal is planned for a period of one year:
Project Year 1September 2008 through August 31, 2009
1. FAO simplified hydroponics expert to train Master Trainers in micro gardening (September 2008 One week training, demonstration garden built)(Cesar Marulanda Colombia)
2. Establish product distribution facility in area
3. FAO solar greenhouse experts to train Master trainers at a new facility in Sichuan University for the design and construction of solar greenhouses (Bolivia expert)
4. Master Trainers to be trained in Solar Greenhouse construction at Sichuan University Research Center, September 2008 and on going)(Bolivia expert)
5. Master Trainers to train in local villages (October through December 2008 – Three day training)(Technical supervisor Cesar Marulanda)
6. ISH to evaluate project (December 2008)(Peggy Bradley, John Rich)
7. Cuban organoponics expert to train master trainer in organoponics (A. Sirocco)
8. ISH website provides criteria and guidance for evaluations to determine success and failures
(Peggy Bradley)
9. Government contribution. Supporting arrangements