Permaculture In Cambodia

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 223-365

Cambodia

A consortium of NGOs including Lom Orng and Ockenden is doing a post-flood livelihood and infrastructure regeneration project, in the country's northwest, which includes permaculture principles, and the establishment of a permaculture demonstration farm in Battambang Province which serves as a community farm and education site and includes a native tree nursery and biogas system providing clean cooking fuel and lighting.

All the food is sold to locals who come to the farm, Veung said, or is given away to the monks at nearby temples, who are particularly fond of ripe papaya

The banana corms are planted in recessed holes to allow for water collection.
 
The dragon-fruit-bearing pitaya cacti are propped up on wooden poles capped off with a bicycle tire. Every productive tree is extremely well mulched.

There are a number of citrus fruits on site, many of them grafted onto hardy rootstocks, a compress of soil is used to keep the grafting wound from being attacked by insects. 

Permaculture in Nepal

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 222-365

Nepal

The Himalayan Permaculture Centre (HPC) is a grass roots non-government organisation (NGO) set up by trained and motivated farmers from Surkhet district (Mid-Western Nepal) in 2010 to implement sustainable rural development programs in Nepal.

Before Permaculture

Farmers from the hills began moving to Chitwan Valley in the 1950s when the government sprayed DDT to eliminate mosquitoes.  The population as well as road, towns, houses grew rapidly.  Except for Chitwan National Park and a few other reserves, the native forests and grasslands mostly disappeared.  Small farms proliferated.

By 1993, agriculture in Chitwan as in much of the world, faced a crisis.  Taking advantage of flat land and irrigation, farmers made Chitwan a breadbasket of Nepal.  But like farmers participating in “green revolutions” throughout the world, they gained their high yields through chemical fertilizers, pesticides, mechanization, hybrid seeds, and borrowed money.

Over time, farmers fell into debt, grew only a narrow range of grain crops, and increasingly relied on income from wages and salaries.  Ironically, many grew grain to sell but had insufficient food for their own families.  And like the farmers, the soil lost its self-sufficiency and became more and more dependent on expensive fertilizers.  Young people left in droves to work in low wage jobs in cities or overseas.

Observing these problems and and wanting to help find practical solutions, Dr. Pramod Parajuli and Dr. Elizabeth Enslin gained the support of the MacArthur Foundation in 1993-94 to carry out a research and action project on agroecology in Chitwan.  Anil Bhattarai joined them as a research assistant.

Goals:

• Meet the basic needs of a peasant family for food, fiber, fodder, firewood, health, happiness, and renewable energy.
• Nurture and regenerate ancient practices of dharma and hospitality.
• Model our experiment on fairly small scale, so that peasant families with similar landholdings of 2-5 acres could learn from it.
• Make our farm a place for teaching, sharing, and learning from others.

Methods

• Bio-intensive agriculture modeled by John Jeavons in Willits, California.
• Permaculture and whole systems design.
• The farming traditions of the Himalyan foothills still practiced by elders, such as Pramod and Udaya’s mother, Parvati Parajuli.
• The farming traditions of Tharus, Kumhals and Botes indigenous to Chitwan.

Results

They spent the first year double-digging beds, making compost and planting trees.  Their garden flourished and inspired a new generation of farmers, gardeners and food and agricultural educators.
 

Permaculture in Thailand

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 221-365

Thailand

WWOOF Thailand located in Nong Weang, Buri Ram and WWOOF Thailand Permaculture and organic projects located thru out Thailand, are sustainable living training, demonstrating and teaching centers of permaculture principals, courses, hosting and workshops in both English and Thai. In 2013, WWOOF Thailand has hosted over 1000 organic and permaculture students, interns and volunteers in permaculture certificate design courses and WWOOF Thailand organic and permaculture projects.

 WWOOF Thailand is a Permaculture Research Institute of Australia certified member,and offers many high quality Permaculture certificate design courses, consulting, design and teaching projects and courses every year. WWOOF Thailand uses permaculture to demonstrate how to regenerate degraded land, improve farm yields, transform mono crop land into ecologically sound "bio-diverse food systems and forests and create organically sound permaculture farms and education demonstration farms and centers across Thailand.

 WWOOF Thailand also has many projects teaching "natural building" using Earth bag, Adobe brick, wattle, cob and bamboo construction techniques. They also host interns, volunteers and courses each year they deliver, low cost courses in Permaculture Certificate Design, Urban Permaculture, broad acre design, sheet mulching, aquaculture, food forests, vermiculture, hugelkulture, solar energy and other self sustainable skills. We aim for low cost, high value for students, groups and professionals visiting and/or living in Thailand.

Mindfulness Project,The Mindfulness Project is an ecological forest preserving charity in Khon Kaen, Thailand. The 34 acres is a monastery land built in order to preserve and extend the forest as well as making an example of sustainable living and natural building. The special feature is, that every house is covered with artistic mosaic. The Mindfulness Project now hosts volunteers, student groups and courses.

Rak Tamachat Permaculture Education Center is located in North East Thailand near Korat. Begun in January 2012 using a master plan created by Christian Shearer the founder of The Panya Project. Beau and Lin Wickboldt founded Rak Tamachat as a permaculture education center to achieve their goals of creating a sustainable future for their family and others. The center is built on a 50 acre corn and rice farm that is using conventional agriculture techniques. A wide variety of elements are used to meet these goals, including natural building, sheet mulching, aquaculture, food forests. Rak Tamachat hosts visitors, volunteers, interns and courses.


The Panya Project, located in Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai, Thailand, is a sustainable living project implementing permaculture principals and hosting workshops in English and Thai. In fall 2006, the project hosted a permaculture design course taught by Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, and subsequently installed over 500 meters of swales and a 2 million liter pond. The Panya Project used permaculture to help regenerate what used to be a mono-crop mango plantation, transforming it into what is called a "biodiverse food forest, organic farm and education center". The Panya Project also incorporates what they call "natural building" into their design, e.g., wattle, cob and adobe brick. The Panya Project now hosts volunteers, student groups and courses.

Daruma Eco-Farm is a sustainable permaculture project located in Bang Phra, Thailand, approximately 1.5 hours drive from Bangkok. Daruma offers courses permaculture design and natural building courses, has an artist-in-residency program, internship, and volunteer program. The farm utilizes integrated aquaculture and is working on a project to generate methane from buffalo dung. Rice paddies are planted according to the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). Resident animals include cats, chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, sheep, and a dog.