Roger Samson

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The Agro-Ecological Village Development Model
Experiences in the Philippines, China and the
Gambia

• Roger Samson
• REAP - Canada
• Box 125 Maison Glenaladale
• Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9X 3V9
• T [phone] F [phone]
• W www.reap-canada.com E rsamson_at_reap-canada.com
  

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REAP-Canada

• Helps rural communities in Canada and developing
  countries meet the challenges of ecologically
  sound production of food, fibre and fuel.
• The organization began its participatory on-farm
  research and farmer-to-farmer training on
  ecological farming in Canada in 1986.

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Agro-Ecological Village (AEV) Development Project
Partnerships

• Aim to improve the economic social well being
  of marginalized farming communities women,
  while also protecting enhancing the natural
  resource base

• SNSADP Project, Philippines (1997), PDG and the
  MAPISAN Farmers Alliance
• WCAEV Development Project, China (2002), Ministry
  of Water Resources, Peoples Republic of China
• GAEV and GEAD Development Project, Gambia (2003),
  NATC and Village AID

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Agricultural Problems in the Philippines

• Extreme weather
• Soil erosion and poor soil fertility
• Deforestation and loss of watersheds

• Agrarian land reform
• struggles
• Monoculture production
• systems

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Agricultural Problems in North Central China

• Severe erosion
• Loss of soil organic matter
• Overgrazing and excessive use of wood crop
  residues for household energy
• Low rainfall and risk of drought
• Vulnerability of the environment to
  desertification and global warming
• Salinization

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Agricultural Problems in the Gambia

• Agricultural production decreasing due
• to deteriorating soil fertility rainfall
• Monoculture production of peanuts
• All crop residues are removed
• Free ranging goats destroy vegetation
• Forest cover has seriously declined

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Why The Agro-Ecological Village?

• A holistic and integrated approach that
  builds the social, ecological and technological
  infrastructure of communities. Addresses the
  challenges of food security and improving
  livelihoods by rehabilitating the natural
  resource base through ecological farming systems
  development farmer to farmer training.

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The Agro-Ecological Village

• An interdependent community of individual
  households that are largely self-reliant through
  the creation of ecological food, fiber energy
  systems.

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The Agro-Ecological Village (AEV) Rural
Development Approach

• AEV Approach
• Emphasizes local self-reliance through the
  development of diversified and ecological
  agricultural systems
• Empowers farmers through participatory
  assessment, training and research that is farmer
  led
• Lowers cost of rural development

• Conventional Approach
• Focus generally is on expanding exports of cash
  crops
• Loans used to fuel rural development
• Focus is on production with limited attention to
  natural resource issues
• Problems identified by outside experts
• Training provided using top down approaches

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The Agro-Ecological Village
Ecological System Conventional System
Food Supply Farm production of principal food crops and vegetables Imported prepared foods and animal feeds
Soil tillage Perennial crops, animal draft power Annual crops, tractors for cultivation
Seeds Community seed banking and plant material improvement Hybrid seeds, transgenic GMO seeds
Soil fertility Biological N fixation, compost, crop rotation, green manures Purchased chemical N,P,K fertilizer
Pests Mechanical weeders, crop rotations, intercropping, bio-controls, compost herbicides, insecticides, fungicides
Marketing Household food security income crops for local markets Mainly cash crops for exports
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Agro-Ecological Village Development Activities

• 1. Baseline Data Gathering PRA
• 2. Institution Building
• 3. Capacity Building
• 4. Farm Planning and Development

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1. Baseline Data Gathering Participatory Rural
Appraisal

• Assess the communities status with
  agro-ecological and socio-economic surveys
• Through a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA),
  the community analyzes deepens their
  understanding of their local situation.

The project team and local villagers
identify causes possible solutions to local
problems, through PRA and Participatory Action
Planning (PAP).
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2. Institutional Building

• Ensure communities are sufficiently well
  organized before project activities are initiated
• Ground project activities with community leaders
  organizers who facilitate the communities
  awareness, understanding and uptake of the
  project

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3. Capacity Building

• Farmer to farmer training network
• Ecological Training Modules
• Gender Development

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Farmer-to-farmer training

• Development of participatory Farmer to Farmer
  Training network
• Selection of first liners and second liners
• Training of trainers
• in farm development
• and effective training
• techniques
• Inclusion of women as trainers

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Participatory Training Modules

• Training materials need to be customized to
  local needs identified through the PRA and
  through on going assessments as the trainings
  evolve.
• The process can begin with a basic ecological
  farming module including

• Soil Fertility Management
• Cropping systems
• Weed management
• Pest disease management
• Soil water conservation

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Gender Development

• Sensitize communities around gender equality
• Involve active participation of both genders in
  project activities as trainers and participants
• Increase women's role in decision making in
  communities
• Ensure gender issues are incorporated into all
  project activities.

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4. Farm Planning and Development

• Farm planning and Learning Farms
• Soil and water conservation
• Food Footprint
• Appropriate Technology

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Learning Farms

• A farm in the community that is used for
  education and farmer led research while remaining
  a working farm. They can include

• Adaptability Trials
• Crop Improvement
• On-farm Demonstrations
• Community Seed banks and tree nurseries
• Farmer-led plant breeding
• Livestock Management

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Adaptability Trials

• The testing of new crops or varieties to
  assess their adaptability to the environmental
  and management conditions on small farms.

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Crop Improvement in North Central China

• In the Western China AEV Project in Gansu
  Province, farmers tested a total of 43 different
  varieties of 7 field crops. They are now scaling
  up production of the leading new varieties.

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On-Farm Demonstrations

• Farmers demonstrate E.F.S. (Ecological
  Farming systems)

• Crop Rotations
• Green Manures
• Multiple Cropping
• Composting
• Live Fencing

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Community Seed banks and Tree Nurseries

• Farmers collect and preserve seeds to conserve
  genetic diversity
• Farmers also learn how to propagate plant
  material and develop plant material improvement
  programs

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Farmer-Led Plant Breeding

• Farmers learn how to breed varieties adapted
  to their local environment and growing
  conditions.

• In the Philippines, one achievement has been
  the development of ECO-RICE varieties that
  combine SRI techniques, Biological Nitrogen
  Fixation (BNF) and ratooning.

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Livestock Management
In ecologically devastated areas, free-range
livestock management can cause irreparable
damage. Farmers learn ecological and
sustainable methods for

• Benefits of intensive/ semi-intensive management
• Fodder Crop Production
• Animal health and nutrition

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Soil and Water Conservation

• Contour farming
• Drip Irrigation

• Checkdams
• Windbreaks

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Food Footprint
1. Assess the quantity of food consumed annually
and the landbase needed to produce the households
basic foods 2. Diagram seasonal fruits and
vegetable production and identify gaps 3.
Discuss opportunities for creating a healthier
diet 4. Identify strategies to maximize
efficiency of land use based on optimizing
production
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Appropriate Technology

• Farmers need access to low cost appropriate
  tools for developing their farms ecologically.
  REAP has worked to help support farmers
  organizations manufacture their own tools.

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Appropriate Technology

• In the PRA process, communities identify
  their most urgent and basic technological needs.

• To help solve the fuelwood
• crisis in the Philippines,
• REAP developed the Mayon
• Turbo stove, a low cost,
• advanced combustion rice
• hull stove.

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The AEV model is a logical evolution for rural
development programming. It integrates the best
management practices in rural development with
sustainable knowledge in ecological farming
systems training and development.
Summary
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Thank you!