Pwoje Espwa, the orphanage I am staying at in Haiti, has a growing agricultural center.  They are teaching the boys how to farm, harvesting fresh vegetables for consumption, and looking for ways of generating an income from their farm.

I brought nearly 40 packets of seeds to Espwa ‘from our farm to theirs.’  They were really happy with these seeds as they are hard to come by there- they were especially excited about the cherry tomatoes!

Father Marc talked about two plants that could change things in Haiti.  Kenaf, he has been told,  is an ideal food for rabbits and chickens (even people) which is good news for them as food expenses run high for those critters.  And jatropha, whose seeds can be pressed for biofuel.  He says: ‘Animals do not take to the plant so they would be ideal for reforesting the naked mountains.  It isn’t a tree so folks will be less inclined to cut them down for carpentry needs or charcoal.  The leaves are medicinal (anti-inflammatory) and the part of the seed that we don’t use makes good compost.  Imagine fields of these growing all over Haiti.  Haitians could gather the seeds and sell them for processing or make their own biofuel, a natural alternative to fossil fuel which is super expensive here.  We’re looking for a large NGO to help us turn this seemingly little plant into a major catalyst in Haiti’s recovery.’

Pretty cool stuff.  Here are some pics of their farming projects…

Planting seedlings

Baby banana trees

An 'Indian' water pump

A whole field of eggplants!

Staredown with a cow

More seedlings

Agricultural center

Watering

Growing, growing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 2:37 pm and is filed under world initiatives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.