Seeking a Future in Haiti Thru Food and Forest
TOTAL FUNDRAISING TARGET: $3700.00
RAISED (as of November 15, 2010): $1095.00
Total left to raise : $2605.00
I am seeking donations to begin a small agro-forestry project in the Deslandes area of Haiti. Donations can come in ANY size. Please jump in and support these farmers with donations of $5, $10, $20 or $50. Whatever you can do. A detailed budget is located below.
A BIG SHOUT OUT TO THOSE KOSSACKS WHO'VE ALREADY PITCHED IN!!! THERE ARE SEVERAL OF YOU!!!
BUDGET (approximate amounts)
Airline Ticket (for initial trip) $800
Other travel $200
Food ($15/day) $500
Medical Insurance $200
Living expenses $800
Project Initiation Costs (tree, seed, equipment purchases) $1000
Language Course $200
Sub-total $3700
Minus total raised thus far $595
Minus Jim O’Donnell personal contribution $500
Total left to raise $2605.00
It goes without saying that, by every measure people of Haiti are living in a state of profound ecological crisis. Even before the tragic earthquake of January 2010, less than 1% of Haiti remained forested. The stark deforestation provides opportunity for severe and sudden mudslides and flash flooding, which was witnessed in 2004 and 2008 and tragically resulted in several thousand Haitian peasants losing their lives. Furthermore, crop harvests are shrinking, topsoil is disappearing, malnutrition rates are growing, and preventable, infectious diseases are gaining ground.
Now, the exodus of a half-million earthquake refugees from Port-au-Prince is putting enormous pressure on already-struggling, rural communities in Haiti. The community of Deslandes is one of several located in the Artibonite Valley. The communities in the valley are still recovering from near famine conditions caused by successive hurricanes in 2008. Deslandes farmers lost upwards of 70% of their fall crops in that year. Further, they report that increasingly unpredictable rainy and dry seasons, along with extreme storm events have contributed to a steady decline in crop yield over the past two decades. Farmers report that they face far greater risk of crop loss now because they are no longer able to time their planting accurately to coincide with the onset of the rainy season. When rain does come, it is often a brief, heavy downpour that damages crops and causes excessive runoff and soil erosion. Droughts have become more severe and longer in duration.
As most of us know, degradation of soil resources underpins the most serious health, economic, and environmental challenges facing Haiti today. Rural communities, especially more remote ones like Deslandes, have suffered disproportionately from the destruction of this vital life support system. Tragically, the Artibonite Valley is a part of Haiti which only a half century ago was considered the "breadbasket" of the country. Having lost all of its original forests, Deslandes and its neighboring villages have experienced a catastrophic corresponding loss of soil resources which has led to a precipitous decline in agricultural production and severe degradation of water resources. It is also true that the predatory nature of the state’s relationship with rural Haitians has meant few government services reach the rural provinces therefore the valley’s villages receive no government support for infrastructure, education, agriculture, or other forms of community development. And yet the communities in the valley now find themselves stuck with the prospect of providing enough food, shelter, and water for a population that has increased some 12% in recent months. In the village of Deslandes alone the population has grown from 8,100 to over 9,000 since the earthquake. An estimated 260 people are living under trees in makeshift tents. No relief or rebuilding aid is reaching these communities.
Our project is intent on improving this situation through a program of agroecology and the creation of food forest gardens. Agroecology is an integrated approach to agriculture that focuses not only on the amount of food produced, but also on the ecological and social sustainability of food production systems. We will work with Farmers to design trial plots that integrate the use of multi-purpose trees and shrubs, traditional food crops, composting, land formations, and other permauclture strategies designed to increase long-term soil fertility by rebuilding soil organic matter and biology. We know that trees have an unmatched ability to produce soil-enriching leaf litter, fill the earth with humus-making roots, quell temperature swings, hold moisture, arrest erosion, and offer tiers of wildlife habitat.
A food forest (or forest garden) is an ancient agricultural concept that mimics nature in all its glory. We’re not talking a vegetable garden. Instead, a food forest is a largely self-maintaining whole and inclusive, interdependent and highly productive system of multi-storied trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, pollinators, soil, water and you. An edible forest garden is a perennial polyculture of multi-purpose plants — many species growing together (a polyculture), most plants re-growing every year without needing to be re-planted (perennials), each plant contributing to the success of the whole by fulfilling many functions. In other words, an edible ecosystem: a consciously designed community of mutually beneficial plants and animals intended for human food production. Edible forest gardens can provide more than just a wide variety of foodstuffs; the seven F's apply here: food, fuel, fiber, fodder (food for animals), fertilizer and "farmaceuticals", as well as fun. The food forest is about expanding the horizons of our food gardening across the full range of the successional sequence, from field to forest, and everything in between.
Project phases
Phase I: Farmers identify and begin cultivating 56 multipurpose tree varieties in three nurseries. Phase II: finish establishing tree nurseries on trial plots, hone their composting skills and techniques, and be introduced to compost tea methods. Begin food plot planning. Phase III: farmers will continue monitoring changes in soil health in their trial plots. Farmers will also have the option of measuring the success of their agroecology strategies by assessing the nutritional value of crops produced. Phase IV: farmers will reflect back on the successes and challenges of their trial strategies, evaluate the project as a whole, and envision and plan new agriculture-related development that builds upon the work and learning of previous phases.
Project sustainability. One of the great strengths of this project is that it is community-driven. Area farmers and community members have designed their own regeneration process. Thus, this project provides an infrastructure for sustaining and expanding farmer experimentation with agroecology methods and development of specialty crop micro-enterprises in villages in the Artibonite Valley. The direct beneficiaries of this initiative are farmers developing skills in cooperative planning and increased confidence in their capacity to be agents of positive change in their communities. Children will have greater access to nutritional foods and be less susceptible to chronic illness and developmental problems. The community at large benefits from increased availability of nutritious foods and the resulting positive public health effects of better nutrition. Women will enjoy greater opportunities for economic and social advancement through participation as farmers.
If you can, please kick in a few clams and help me get this project off the ground.
Thank you!