(ZIMPAPERS ZW) Permaculture, the way to go

Permaculture, the way to go
Saturday, 07 July 2012 19:39
Garikai Mazara

A casual visitor who is not inquisitive will leave the premises of Nyandoro Primary School assuming the head, staff and pupils do not know the meaning of being neat and that their school needs some sprucing up and thorough cleaning.

The curious one will probably ask the authorities why the school has so much dirt.
However, it only takes an observant person to notice that upon entering the schoolyard, there is a prominent sign warmly welcoming visitors to the “home of permaculture”, a form of conservative agriculture that the school has proudly undertaken since 2003.

“Permaculture,” explained Jefred Madzvanya, who heads the permaculture department at the school, “is a short form for permanent, sustainable agriculture, where emphasis is on conservation, the use of zero tillage, with the aid of organic material, without any use, whatsoever, of chemicals.

“The idea is to produce healthy food products that are chemical-free as research has proved that most of the diseases these days are a result of the chemicals that we use to produce our food.”

So it is quite possible that a visitor, upon entering the schoolyard, might get the impression that the school and its authorities are not cleaning the yard that is filled with cut thatching grass and, in some instances, dry maize stalks, which form a sort of “carpet” to the whole premises. In permaculture terms, the whole yard is mulched.

“After the rainy season, we usually harvest the mulch that you see today as this cut thatching grass, but by the next season it would be manure. Together with the manure we get from the piggery section, we use this for dry-land maize crop, food forest and nutrition garden,” said Mr Madzvanya.

“In common parlance, a food forest is your orchard, whereas the nutrition garden is basically your everyday garden, the difference being this one aims to produce high-nutrition food and the mandala bedding is designed so as so save and retain moisture.”

Now almost a decade old, it has not been smooth sailing for Nyandoro since permaculture was introduced in 2003.

Mr Madzvanya said it took the parents a long time to embrace the idea, but added that it was pleasing to note that villagers in areas such as Kabvunye and Hwenda had now embraced the practice at their homes.

“Some have adopted herbariums, as they are very beneficial, especially with most of the common ailments.”

Permaculture at Nyandoro has also seen the introduction of a herbarium, which contains a variety of species, among them peppermint, lemon grass, wormwood and basil bushes. Besides the intention to harvest manure at the end of the mulching season, could there be any other desirable motive behind keeping the grounds of the school in a not-so-eye-catching state?

Investigations revealed that because of the mulch, sunlight does not directly hit the ground which, in turn, helps increase the water-holding capacity.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, 130 000 farmers in the country are already implementing conservation agriculture without any input support.

Zimbabwe is targeting 500 000 farmers to practise conservation agriculture on over 250 000 hectares by 2015.

Born out of the brains of Bill Mollison, an Australian permanent agriculturalist, Nyandoro School tops the permaculture practice in Mashonaland Central.

However, permaculture sounds like a project made in heaven but it has its pitfalls, chief among them is the danger of fire outbreaks. But the school has a fireguard around it and a 2 000-litre water tank on standby in the event a fire breaks out.

For a school that has produced a number of prominent Zimbabweans like the late veteran journalist Bornwell Chakaodza, former CEO of Air Zimbabwe Peter Chikumba, businessman and farmer John Sixpence, agronomist Herbert Chakanyuka and academic Richard Dzvukamanja, Nyandoro is renowned in Guruve district not only for its excellence in permaculture but also academically.