Projects for the Next Fiscal Year—Part 3 (of 6)

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

8. Ethiopia: System of Crop Intensification (SCI)

Last year, BGR entered into a partnership with Oxfam America on a project to improve food production in the Meki-Ziway area of the Central Rift Valley in Ethiopia, a region affected by increased costs of farming, excessive use of pesticides and water, and decreasing water levels.

The project aims to meet these challenges by applying the System of Crop Intensification (SCI) to such crops as tomatoes, peppers, onions, cabbage, and potatoes. SCI draws on the methods that have already proved successful in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), extending them to other crops. SCI emphasizes growing bigger, healthier root systems, and enhancing soil fertility. The method should increase vegetable production while reducing water use and reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Producing more while reducing costs will increase income and enhance household nutritional security among the Ethiopian farmers of the Meki-Ziway area. This second year of the two-year project will focus on building the capacity of local partners to continue SCI training. It will also organize workshops to share knowledge with other regions and develop manuals and videos to make the methods more widely available to Ethiopian farmers. Year two of a two-year project.

9. Haiti: System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with nearly 90% of Haitians in the countryside living in poverty and two-thirds in extreme poverty. Haiti was once self-sufficient in rice, a staple in the national diet, but rice production has sagged and it now imports over 80% of its rice. To increase the output and income of rice farmers in Haiti, Oxfam America is promoting the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a method of cultivation which lowers inputs but results in rice plants that are more resistant to climate extremes, pests, and diseases. Yields can increase by 50%-150% within one or two cropping seasons.

Last year BGR teamed up with Oxfam America on a two-year project to enhance the use of SRI in Haiti. The first-year of the BGR grant enabled the training in SRI to be extended to thirty additional farmers, both women and men, for a total of 300. In the second year, the grant will extend the training to still more farmers. It will also establish financial support for farmers, improve a local processing mill, and train youth to use cultivation and harvesting machinery. Year two of a two-year project.

10. Haiti: Meals for Hungry Kids

The U.S.-based What If? Foundation is dedicated to improving the lot of poor children in Haiti. WIF has worked in close partnership with members of the impoverished Ti Plas Kazo community of Port-au-Prince to sustain the the Lamanjay free meals program, which was started in 2000. The urgency of the program increased sharply following the terrible earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince in January 2010. Every weekday, in the Ti Plas Kazo neighborhood, over a thousand children (and a few adults) line up at the distribution center to receive a plate of hot, nutritious food. The community served by Lamanjay includes mostly children who still live in nearby tents with unemployed parents or guardians who cannot provide the children with sufficient, nutritious food.  Other children walk miles to attend. For most of these children, the food they receive at the food program is their only meal of the day. The grant from BGR will sponsor meals provided by Lamanjay between June 2014 and June 2015. The goal is to ensure that, as they struggle to rebuild their lives, thousands of hungry children and some adults in Port-au-Prince have access to hot, nutritious meals. An annual renewable program.

11. Haiti: Helping Kids Go To School

The What If? Foundation supports 184 young people through the School Scholarships program for the 2013-2014 academic year. Scholarships currently cover the cost of tuition, and occasionally assist with other costs, but generally families have to  pay for such fees as transportation, books, and uniforms.

A grant from BGR will provide scholarships for 38 elementary school students and 30 high school students. Reports indicate that 96% of the high school and elementary students sponsored by the What If? Foundation over the past three years graduated or advanced to the next grade level. This high pass rate is the direct result of the support the students receive from the Education Team in Haiti. An annually renewable program.

To be continued