Help Farmers Rear Silk Moths to Restore Forests

GLOBAL GIVING REPORT:    Farmer’s activities to support the SEPALIM Madagascar artisan workshop

April 2024

Dear Donors

SEPALIM Madagascar team is glad to report you about our latest progress regarding to our effort on the Conservation and forest restoration effort in the Border of the Makira Protected Area.

I would like to let you know that since 2019, SEPALIM Madagascar has used our extra time to start experimenting about finding out an alternative way to avoid the using of firewood as well as wood charcoal among our processing chain between the raw materials into a finished product.

Several experiments as well as trials have been done by the SEPALIM team members with a kindly support from our farmers regarding the “biochar conception to mitigate the needs of firewood”.

In this report, I will tell you every step done by SEPALIM Madagascar and farmers to set up a new strategy to boil a water and dye the raw materials using our affordable possibility to make biochar.

Due to the funding support that SEPALIM Madagascar received, we are still able to continue our conservation effort, make a progress and then expand our program to such new project.

During this year, I wish that you are still interested to support our Program in the Northeastern Madagascar.

Sincerely

Mamy Ratsimbazafy

SEPALIM Madagascar Director

Picture1: Group picture of the SEPALIMM Team 2024

1-     Making a biochar to reduce our needs of fire wood:

The goal of using an alternative way to boil a water as well as dyeing our silk textile has been set since a longtime. 

SEPALIM realize that the dyeing process as well as the washing of the textile produced by our artisans needs a huge bunch of wood every day. Therefore, SEPALIMM Madagascar has realized that each household in the local communities must spend at least 1 USD per day to buy firewood for cooking foods.

Before, SEPALIMM had to spend 6USD per day to buy firewood for the dyeing as well as textile washing. This cost brought our pricing significantly up and has effect on the marketability of our finished products.

As an environmental program, SEPALIMM realize that we must reduce or even substitute our needs of firewood and then help our farmers to also reduce their needs of firewood and charcoal to mitigate the deforestation.

After a couple years of research and trials, SEPALIMM has been able to make an affordable way to produce biochar using a water hyacinth as well as waste of vegetables. Since its creation in 2022, the biochar made up with water hyacinth and waste has reduce considerably our fire wood consumption during the process of our activities.

1-1-Collect and transportation of the water hyacinth and waste to the SEPALIMM site:

SEPALIM team collect our water hyacinth from the river and then transport them to our site by rickshaw or by cart. We are collecting several species of aquatic plants but the water hyacinth is abundantly available.

The transportation is always expensive as well as complicated in Maroantsetra because everything must be transported along the river first and then by car or by cart to the SEPALIM site.

Instead of car transportation, it is cheaper to rent a cart and then pay two men to transport the materials needed for the biochar to the SEPALIM site.

Picture2: Transportation of the vegetable waste and water hyacinth to the SEPALIM site 

1-2- Drying process of the water hyacinth and other plant:

The weather in Maroantsetra is often rainy so the drying of the materials for the biochar may take several weeks. When the leaves are dried, we store them in plastic bags until we gather enough to make biochar.

Picture3: Drying the water hyacinth and plant materials

1-3- Mixing of the raw materials for the biochar:

SEPALIM mixed the different species of plants as well as different materials from the vegetable waste with mud that works as a glue.

After mixing the different materials, we press them into a tube that can be adjusted in the stove that SEPALIM is building for our biochar. After pressing, we can see the different layers of the biochar depending to its composition. 

Picture4: Biochar pressed and dried ready to use. 

2-     Biochar cooking stove conception:

In parallel of making the biochar, SEPALIM must design a stove that is adapted to the biochar. 

Therefore, we have created our own biochar stove using a waste of iron container for paint and clay.

The skill and talent of the team is needed to make the clay well-adjusted with the dimension of the biochar.

After a longtime using the biochar, we have noticed that SEPALIM spends two biochar per day to boil 60 liters of water for your dyeing process as well as textile washing.

Picture 5: Biochar stove ready to use for cooking.

Picture 6: Biochar stove boiling a water.

3-     The next step:

For the next step, SEPALIM Madagascar aims to boost our biochar needs for every year by hiring more employee to produce the biochar for us as well as making more stove. Currently, the biochar produced by the SEPALIM team substitute 60% of the SEPALIM needs of firewood.

In addition to that, SEPALIM will share the good results of our work about the biochar conception to our farmers and support them to use biochar.

There is a high possibility to expand our biochar project to more villages around the Makira protected area because all the raw materials that SEPALIM Madagascar used to make the biochar are abundant and available everywhere.

The advantage of using the SEPALIM biochar in the local communities is that the farmers do not need to cut tree for fire wood anymore. The biochar can be stocked for several years and easy to transport.

The next step of our research is to design a sort of smoke conduction to protect the health problem due to the smoke even though the smoke out of the biochar is less than the smoke from  fire wood stove.

Links:

• SEPALIM team website
• Mother ship
• SEPALIM market site

GLOBAL GIVING REPORT : Rearing silk moth to restore the forest.

(December 2023)

-        Acknowledgement:

On behalf of the Sepali Madagascar team members, I acknowledge all the donors that have contributed to support us during this year (2023). Due to your kindly supports, Sepali Madagascar is moving on to consider the other wild silk species that we discovered a couple years ago.  As usual, the processing of each wild silk species must involve a couple farmers that can benefit directly or indirectly from selling the raw cocoons to the Sepali Madagascar.

Since 2007 to 2023, Sepali Madagascar team has identified seven species of wild silk. Only two species has been exploited so far, so this year Sepali Madagascar has decided to add more silk species into our processing program to increase the number of farmers that can get an alternative revenue from selling the wild silk to  Sepali Madagascar.

Therefore, Sepali Madagascar has decided to establish the collaboration with our farmers to plant the host plant trees and then produce the new species of silk cocoons that we will purchase and then process into finished products.

I would notice that the rearing of each silk worms must leads to the host plant trees plantation.  Thus leads to reforestation of the damaged areas around the northern tropical rainforest of Madagascar.

Again, thank you so much for supporting us, the Sepali Madagascar team members are proud as well as optimistic to make a positive change regarding reforestation around the Makira protected area.

Sincerely

Mamy Ratsimbazafy

Sepali Madagascar project Director.

-        The different  species of wild silk that Sepali Madagascar that  have been processed:

1-     The Deborrea malagassa:

Deborrea malagassa is an endemic silkworm species that has never exploited in Madagascar. Its cocoon is so unique because of the mixture of silk and stick. This species has one generation per year and the harvesting period is in June.

The Deborrea larvae feed on Mimosae tree species that is also endemic to Madagascar. Usually, the Mimosae tree is harvested by the villagers for roof-house construction due to its flexibility and durability.

The effort of Sepali Madagascar to produce Deborrea cocoons by the local villagers will promote the Mimosae tree plantation. 

Sepali Madagascar plans to produce 15 kilos of Deborrea malagassa cocoons in 2024 as a startup production and then increase the production progressively by involving new farmers into the program.

Picture 1: Deborrea malagassa cocoon

2-     The Deborrea sp:

During our inventory study in 2014, Sepali Madagascar team has discovered a second species of Deborrea that we are still identifying the species name.

This species is endemic to Madagascar and has only one generation per year. The harvesting period is in June. The cocoon’s morphology consists of dry leaves covered by a thin layer of silk that Sepali team process into non-spun textile.

This species feed on an endemic rain forest tree Terminalia sp, Family of COMBRETACEAE. 

Since 2016, about 5 families have been working with Sepali to produce 10 kilos of Deborrea sp cocoon every year. 

Picture2: Deborrea sp cocoon                                                                        

3-     Hypsoides singularis:

Hypsoides singularis is a colonial species endemic to the Northern tropical forest of Madagascar. The larvae feed on the Lombiry trees that is classified among the endangered species. Thousand larvae feed on the Lombiry leaves and then spin one common cocoon. This species has one generation per year and the harvesting period is in September.

The Hypsoides cocoon can be spin into yarn and then weave manually.

The main jobs to rear this species is just to plant the host plant trees. When the tree grows enough,  the female moths lay eggs on the leaves. The larvae spin cocoon after one year without moving from the same host plant tree.

In the future, Sepali Madagascar is thinking to process the hypsoides cocoon into yarn that can be used to saw our textile.

Picture3: Hypsoides singulars cocoon

4-     Borocera sp:

 Borocera is the only endemic silk of Madagascar that have been exploited by the Malagasy so far. The villagers in the high-land as well as in the Southern Madagascar have processed this species for several generations to make scarfs and burial shrouds.

Maroantsetra region, in the Northern Madagascar where Sepali Madagascar works is home to several varieties of Borocera. This species feed on the Hintsya biguga trees that is among the IUCN red list as endangered species. 

The host plant tree is endemic to the Northern rainforest of Madagascar and it is included into the species list of the reforestation program implemented by the Malagasy government.

The processing of the Borocera sp silk by Sepali Madagascar will increase the interest of farmers to plant more Hintsyatrees on their land.

This silk moth species has 6 generations a year and the rearing technic does not requests any money spending such us rearing materials…

Sepali is working with 20 farmers to produce the Borocera silk. 

Picture4: Maroantsetra Borocera cocoon

5-     Antherina Suraka:

Antherina Suraka was the first species of silk moth discovered by Sepali Madagascar team in the Northern Madagascar (2007). Since 2009, we have spread awareness about the production of the suraka cocoons. The Suraka larvae feed on the Talandoa trees ( Polyscias bakeriana) and consists of 9 generations a year.

So far, 360 farmers have participated in the Suraka production program and more than 45000 host plant trees were planted on the farmer’s land that have covered 45 hectares of land.

Recently, one of our best farmers has noticed that the host plant tree of Suraka fertilizes the soils, in addition to that this tree can be used as vanilla support tree. Consequently, many farmers intercropped this tree species into their Vanilla farms. 

So the Suraka program allows farmers to benefit from both vanilla and Suraka cocoon harvesting.

Picture5: Antherina Suraka cocoon

6-     Argema mittrei:

Argema mettrei, commonly called “the Madagascar comet moth” is an emblematic moth species of Madagascar. This is the largest size of the Madagascar moths. 

Since 2016, Sepali is working with 5 farmers to produce the Argema cocoons. This species has 2 generations a year and the cocoon harvesting period is in June and November.

The Argema larvae feed on the multiple endemic forest trees such us Weinmannia, Eugenia.

The Sepali Madagascar farmers produce about 18000 Argema cocoons per year which are enough to complete our current marketing orders.

Picture6: Argema mittrei cocoon

7-     Ceranchia Apollina:

Ceranchia appolina is endemic to the northern Madagascar. Its host plant is a forest vine called Plactaneia. This species produces seeds that the birds eat and spread everywhere.

Ceranchia is the species that Sepali mostly processed into finished products. Therefore, Sepali Madagascar processes averagely 100 kilos of Ceranchia cocoon every year.

Twenty farmers are working with us to produce the cocoons. 

Picture7: Ceranchia cocoon

Summary:

Sepali Madagascar is struggling to use different type of wild silk into our processing methods. It is so important to notice that each species of silk cocoons has farmers that insure the larvae rearing as well as women artisan groups that insure the processing. 

Finding a markets of the products made up with the Madagascar wild silk is very crucial to implement both of conservation of the wild silk moth species as well as forest restoration.

Links:

• SEPALIM home site
• Market site
• Mother ship