Economic Growth Madagascar Project #15207

Wild Silk Training Center for 300 in Madagascar!

by Conservation through Poverty Alleviation, Int

Project Report | Nov 11, 2015
A Change in the Tides

By Kerry O'Neill | Assistant Director, CPALI

Training Center Design by Boston A4H

Each year, CPALI takes a good, healthy look at where we stand in relation to our goals. We evaluate each project's successes and shortcomings and revisit long-term targets. At our annual review this year, we decided that is time to make a minor strategy change in relation to the Wild Silk Training Center.

For the past two years, the CPALI staff and a team of consultants have been hard at work designing and preparing for the Wild Silk Training Center. A plot of land was purchased in Maroantsetra, Architecture for Humanity volunteers drew up the designs for the training center, and SEPALI staff transformed the land into a functional demonstration site including planting native silkworm host trees, building a moth garden, an artisan house, a watchman's house and a bathroom. Today the site stands ready for construction with one hurtle left to overcome: electricity.

The electrical grid in Maroantsetra, powered by a local hydroelectric dam, is currently limited to a small section of Maroantsetra and falls about 2km short of our proposed training center site. Investing in the expansion of the grid as a solo endeavor will be extremely expensive. After extensive research into alternative energy sources by the team and consultants in both the US and Madagascar, we finally decided that the smartest and most cost-effective option is to wait for electricity to come to us. Natural pressure from the community is causing the grid to expand at a steady rate and we expect it to reach our demonstration site, or come within a reasonable distance of it, within the next three years. If the expected expansion does not occur by that time, we will again consider purchasing land in an area that is already on the grid.

For this reason, we are planning to put this project on hold until 2018. In the meantime, the demonstration site will remain active and training workshops will continue in the facilities that we already have at our office. This coming year, we will bring national and international design consultants to our artisans, education and outreach opportunities and many other exciting developments. In response to requests from our farmers and artisans, there will also be a new push for designs and equipment that will allow home-bound artisans to make silk products and earn a living without having to travel to the demonstration site as often.

We sincerely hope that you will continue to support these efforts as we move forward with the communities in Madagascar. If you wish to discuss this change or offer alternative solutions, please feel free to contact us anytime. Thank you for your patience and ongoing support! We are thrilled to have you with us!

Inside the Moth Garden

Wild Silk Textile Workshop

Demonstration Site Trail through Host Trees

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Jul 14, 2015
First steps - a pink house for the watchman and family

By Catherine Craig, Mamy Ratsimbazafy | Directors, CPALI and SEPALI Madagascar

A new pink house for SEPALI watchman and family

First things first - we are revving up the work at the demonstration site and that means we need to bulid a house for a 24 hour watchman. The watchman is needed to protect the property from maurading cows, chickens, and individuals who might want to harvest our cocoons and vanilla. Included with the house will be a fancy composting toilet! We do things right at SEPALI Madagascar! What is a bit unexpected is that the toilet is more expensive than the house. Hmm - something is wrong here.

While getting ready for the training center the team has been making multiple site improvements with plantings of silkmoth host plants, cleaning out of a pond that is going to be used to raise dragonfly larvae for food as part of our insects for food program. In addition the team has been planting vanilla to gorw on the silk moth host plants to illustrate to farmers how they can use the Talandoha for an added income opportunity. In fact, Mamy has been growing vanillla at the demonstration site for two years and the flowers are quite beautiful. Did you know that vanilla does not have any pollinators in Madagascar and therefore each flower needs to be hand pollinated? Furthermore, each plant produces only one flower per day. With increased farmer activity in vanilla production we hope to increase farmer activity to tend the caterpillars - it all fits!

We are still trying to deal with our electricity conundrum. A new point of attack is to purchase manual sewing machines and therefore greatly reduce our electricity need for now. In that, case we could probably manage with a few solar cells for cooking, evening light, etc. We had hoped to have our office at the training center but we are being creative and looking for a secondary site in town. Stay tuned!

Caterpillar host trees decorate demonstration site

Keep out the zebu!

Transporting walls

Making it work

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Mar 3, 2015
Location, location, location - still gathering chickens

By Catherine Craig, Mamy Ratsimbazafy | President CPALI

SEPALI demonstration farm - talandoa and vanilla

In our last report on the training center we told you about our chicken and egg conundrums . . . lack of electricity and lack of bamboo - unfortunately the electricity problem has not gone away although the bamboo problem may be solved.

The sustainable source of bamboo we had hoped to use to build the training center is not available. To supply it, we would need to build a bamboo processing plant in Maroantsetra. Alternatively, if we harvested the bamboo locally (and sustainably) we could ship it to the capital to be treated. But then the bamboo has to be shipped it back to the site. That is not feasible due to our isolated location. Nevertheless, the ever patient Boston Architects for Humanity have answered our clarion call and is designing a modified center to be made from bamboo - they never stop assisting us - thank goodness.

A second problem and one that is also related to location, is a lack of electricity. The demonstration site the team has devoted so much time to developing for faming does not yet have access to the town's electrical cable. Will we now need to find a new site that is on the electric line? (Likely to be out of our price range), lay a new cable? (Definitely out of our price range) or design a combination of wind, solar and generator power? If we simply buy a generator then we will be greatly increasing our program costs over the long term and will become slaves to fuel shortages and fluctuating prices. If we try to install solar panels, we will need many, as well as employ full-time, 'round the clock, on-site guards to prevent their theft. The biggest headache, however, is a budget for long-term maintenance. We are told that a maintenance officer will need to visit the site, at a minimum, once a year. Given that we are isolated, that air transportation is expensive and that hurricanes and storms that rack Maroantsetra every year, it is unlikely that we can get away with just one service trip a year. What to do? We will let you know . . .

Recent workshop on the porch

The dream

Sorting cocoons

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