Biointensive farming workshop held in Kenya

Some 138 people attended a five-day Grow Biointensive workshop at Manor House Agricultural Centre (MHAC) in Kenya in early August.

Participants were mostly Kenyans, but four Ugandans, a Zambian, Tanzanian, Ethiopian, Rwandan and Madagascan also attended.

The workshop was led by John Jeavon, director of Ecology Action, marking the first time he had traveled to Africa. Ecology Action helped found MHAC as the result of a 1982 meeting at its site when it was decided to establish a biointensive center for Africa. Since then, Ecology Action has provided technical assistance and fiscal sponsorship for MHAC and has trained many interns.

"The purpose of the workshop was to influence the whole African continent," Jeavons said, "to introduce food-raising skills that are effective, use only locally-available resources, and work in harmony with the earth's natural cycles."

The workshop and a four-day symposium that followed were organized through a collaboration between Ecology Action, MHAC and the Participatory Ecological Land Management Association (PELUM), a network of more than 170 NGOs in 10 African countries.

"These events were catalyzed by the response of the African small-scale agricultural sector to last year's Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa," Jeavons said. "It was felt the initiative had not included Africans in its planning and did not address the true needs of African farmers, who mostly have very small pieces of land. We wanted to encourage African farmers to recognize the resources and skills they already have and to introduce more of them to Grow Biointensive. The symposium also provided an opportunity to "brainstorm steps towards a truly African agriculture," he noted.

Ecology Action has been developing Grow Biointensive sustainable mini-farming for 36 years; the system has been taught at Manor House for 21 years. As a result, more than two and a half million African farmers have learned how to grow food for themselves more effectively and earn income from the sale of excess produce.

When asked how one workshop can influence a whole continent Jeavons replied: "It's like adding yeast to the dough when you're making bread. Just a small amount can give life to the ingredients and cause it to rise dramatically.

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