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ATLANTA, Ill. – A Tanzanian bishop will deliver messages of hope and opportunity to the impoverished inhabitants of the Diocese of Tabora after visiting a farm in central Illinois.
Anglican Bishop Elias Chakupewa and his wife Lucy representatives of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Bloomington and others visited PrairiErth Farm, a 480-acre certified organic family farm [19659002] Most families in the Tabora region are limited to subsistence farming on small plots.
PrairiErth Farm offers a diverse selection of vegetables, fruits, cows, heritage pigs, egg chickens, corn, soybeans and wheat, providing an example of what might be possible in Tabora with the right tools and hydropower infrastructure . . This would allow Tabora families to go beyond subsistence for a food system that would feed others into the community.
The main problem in Tabora revolves around water, as the region receives an average of 5.4 inches of rain a month from November to April. inches monthly from May to October.
"Agriculture in our region is seasonal, we have two seasons, a dry season and a rainy season, and during the rain people grow corn and rice," Chakupewa said.
"There must be some improvement, you can not trust the rain in our area, so sometimes we have rain, sometimes there is no rain, you grow corn at (3 feet high), then it dries. "
The area is semi-arid and does not have adequate underground water table nor means of capturing water during the rainy season.
. David Halt of St. Matthew Episcopal Church, who visited Tabora several times, said that a well near the parsonage was not working during his recent visit, and residents were forced to walk 3 kilometers to each other with their 5 gallon buckets. "
" So, we first treat the water needs of the village, then watering crops, and then we will have the ability to generate usable plots of any size. . And you might need to incorporate something like hoop houses just to control when there is too much water and to catch the water when it falls to be available during the dry season. These types of structures could still function for a purpose entirely different from what they are here, "said David Bishop, owner of PrairiErth Farm.
The installation of cisterns to capture and store water would be an important first step
to be used to operate the water pumps as is the case in PrairiErth where the electric fence and the water pump of a pasture have been powered by solar energy since 2009.
Create a model
Halt says that there is a need for partners a village to raise these challenges, create a model and once the system works to move to the next village.
This marked the second visit of the bishop to the United States.
"One of the things that was examined was how we can help basic development to meet human needs. We are dealing with subsistence farming, lack of water. Obviously, as Christians, we believe that we must not only take care of spiritual needs, but also physical needs and look for ways to connect Bishop Elias with organizations that are interested in human development in a field where poverty and disease.
PrairiErth Farm provides examples of how farmers can do without their subsistence on small plots.
"To see these fields plotted in a segment of an acre will match very well their agricultural needs because they are small fields, small operations. Having ideas on how he manages the entire food system, the ideas will help them develop products for the markets, "Halt said.
"There is a lot of activity on the market for surplus crops.
Encouraged
"Coming to this region to see how they grow vegetables, the methods they use, the machinery and the manpower, it encourages me so much that everything can be fact. The way they grow vegetables, the irrigation system, the crop and all these things have impressed me a lot, "Chakupewa said.
The bishop said that he would share what he learned from his visit to PrairiErth Farm. to be the main problem. However, he looks forward to the challenge.
"I am so optimistic because, as a Christian, I believe nothing is impossible to God," he said: "The most important thing is to try to increase and to improve sustainable agriculture.So if you have a small piece of land, how can you make it more productive and better? "said Linda Thomas, a member of St Church. Matthew & # 39; s
"What we strive to do, is to teach agriculture
Global Movement
PrairiErth Farm has organized tours in recent years for guests of the Nicaragua, Russia, France and Burundi
"They talk about how they develop their own unique systems. It's fascinating to see. You do not hear much about the global movement for local food, but there is one – it's just a little quiet, "said Bishop.
" Russia is on the road on that kind of thing and you never hear it and, of course, France and other countries in Europe have been doing it for a long time. So, this is not new to them. But he is still evolving.
"New equipment is being developed, new techniques are being developed, new products are coming in. Something is happening all the time, it's really cool and a way to connect the world. "
Tom C. Doran can be contacted at 815-780-7894 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @AgNews_Doran.
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