Train Primary Teachers in Conservation Agriculture

News:

This has been an exciting quarter for FfF. They have successfully built a Chicken Layer Unit at the Nest Literacy Centre which can accommodate 20 birds. The unit is part of a small-scale egg production project that fits into FfF's wider objectives of sustainable development: the project has the potential to encourage sustainable income generation for the school through selling the eggs; four teachers have been trained how to grow crops using Sustainable Agricultural Methods (Conservation Agriculture) to promote increased productivity; this training will complement the egg production project, as well as sustain it for up to three years. 

The Chicken Layer Unit Process:

Due to a sudden increase in the price of the building materials, the construction process took a little longer than expected. However, the pupils from the school assissted the FfF trainers in the process, sharing the workload and ultimately reducing the time taken to construct the Unit. It was encouraging to see how hard the students worked during the process, and how they took ownership of the project for the benefit of the school and the their fellow students. It was particularly important that they understood that the success of the project and its sustinably for future cohorts was dependent on their commitment to it, but their eagerness to see the project come to life demonstrated their appreciation of this. 

What's Next:

FfF is currently in the process of acquiring the 20 layer chickens and the required feed to support the project for a year. This will help support the school in the initial stages of the project until it is able to generate enough income from the eggs to either expand the project or erect learning facilities for the students, or a security fence around the school premises. The students at the school have been busy gathering the bedding material required for the chickens to lie in. This can be found in the form of dry grass or wood shavings. Once the project is up and running, the students will also be able to learn about entrepreneurship from the project, and start to gain experience to start their own small projects at home. 

Targets:

The main target is to ensure that the project starts to generate income by the end of 2019. Other targets include:

• Increased income generated by the projet by April 2020
• Incorporate yield from the fields to support the project by April 2020
• Construction of proper learning facilities to commence by September 2010

These milestones are expected to be met by the school by December 2020. 

This quarter saw a period of consolidation and planning as we look to raise funds to take on the next stage of our work. 

We're in the process scoping and costing out the resources we need to prepare the farmland and chicken's area to allow the NEST School to develop their sustainable farming methods and produce crops which will support their own needs and with a surplus they can sell and use to by educational resources. This will support the local economy so everybody wins.

Watch this space for more detail to follow but please help us now by getting the fundraising ball rolling.