Day 2 of Rwanda PDC.

Big day of teaching for me today:
Reviewed zone and sector planning with an interactive exercise (sand map on ground).

Permaculture ethics were introduced to the group, I then facilitated the group in exploring their own ethics and how they related to care of earth care of people and fair share. We related this to on the ground things that work towards these ideals.

Following Ricks session on companion planting and intergrated pest management, I continued the theme into tree guilds.

In the afternoon, I did a practical demonstration of organic pesticides:

We started gently with soap, garlic and chilli teas and then upped the ante with teas made from Cassia and Neem (the nuclear bomb of organic pesticides).

Despite being organic, Neem is still very devastating to all insect species and therefore should only be used as a last resort in order to avoid starvation through crop failure.

Good soil health and balanced ecosystem is by far the best way to avoid pests!

Below is Ricks blog from today:



Day two.

Integrated Pest Management. In a GM seed pesticide regime you can't go cold turkey and switch straight to organics.
We have to take the methadone approach. That is the soil is damaged by pesticide and needs to regenerate life to come back into balance.

There are few established predator attracting plants. Surrounding farms aren't converted and will harbour problems such as fungus dominance and collapsed soil profiles leading to extreme erosion.

Organics involves thinking ,planning,timing and some skills. These have to be developed. I believe a two year timeline is more realistic.

Switching off GM also contravenes govt policy and crop choice is govt directed. So treading quietly.(revolutions can be quiet)
Andy made some natural pesticide teas.
This first step away from chemical dependence.(Eventually this to will be only a backup as the village farms have resilience built into them) I invented the chilli banana for monkey repelling. More later gotta meeting.