INFO
TUO supports sustainable farming in Zambia
The green village project is TUO’s cooperative project with the Zambian Green Living Movement -association (GLM). This project supports the income of five Zambian villages, aims to progress the sustainable development of the villages and encourages the people to act in order to improve their position. The project includes training in agroforestry, beekeeping and developing of marketing skills. The farmers are also transported to other villages to share their experiences which means that more people become interested in trying agroforestry.
Organic and environmentally friendly farming, that has already provided good results, plays a central part in the project. This way of farming has lessened the villages dependancy on the states support and they can affect the matters of their society by their own actions.
Acquiring fertiliser in Zambia is altogether difficult and the prices are high. The government gives out fertilisers inconsistently and without the possibilities to buy from the private market, a majority of the people are dependant on the unstable government support. One of the main goals of the project is to give people a chance to get better crop through organic methods rather than by using expensive fertilisers. The positive experiences get more people to participate and through exchanging these experiences even more people want to try the new farming method that helps the soil be more productive. The slash and burn method has been traditionally been used in Zambia. This has caused deforestation and nutrient poor soil.
The central activities of the Green Village project
Teaching Agroforestry
Beekeeping courses
Building granaries and developing marketing skills
Empowering communities to affect their own development
The exchanging of experience between farmers
The internship of Finnish and Zambian students
Supporting GLM
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