A dedicated micro credit fund for rural Madagascar

We just got that repost form the villages in Madagascar:

The community of Fiarenana is well in control of their micro credit projects and it is running well. As a new approach this year the school was given money to buy rice in March after the harvest and after they sold it at a higher price later in the year they returned the initial loan on time by the beginning of December.

Despite past experiences, we wanted to give the women’s group in Fiadanana another chance, after all not everybody is a born businessperson. Unfortunately it didn`t work so well this season either; once again they used the money for another purpose than initially agreed on, but promised to reimburse Zahana by March.

On the bright side in Fiadanana, the vegetable gardens next to the houses are coming back, and most are planting green leafy plants to eat (with Zahana’s seeds for our ‘seed fund’). This only illustrates once again, that it sometimes takes years to generate a change in habits.

In other important community news: the Health Center for Fiadanana is almost finished (see the groundbreaking in July). We just got this photo of an almost completed building, with our traditional healer Raleva checking out its progress.

Happy Holidays!

Ihanta

Intoducing new crops is the backbone of our micocredit philosophy. Zahana has been approached with a very generous offer by one of our friends. He comes from a part of the country where breadfruit trees are very common. He offered to ask his relatives to craft seedlings from their existing breadfruit trees and donate them to Zahana so we can grow them in the village. Breadfruit trees, once grown, have an abundance of fruit, so the surplus can be sold in the market for cash income. 

This is a very generous offer, because breadfruit trees cannot be grown from seed but must always be cultivated from cuttings. By the same token, this means that any breadfruit tree growing in Africa, the Pacific or the Caribbean has been taken there by humans at some point in time. Here is a little historic anecdote: Breadfruit was introduced in the Caribbean by the British to grow inexpensive and plentiful food for their slaves. The same Lieutenant Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame was tasked with collecting breadfruit seedlings in Tahiti, when his mutineers spoiled that plan. Over 200 years later, breadfruit has become the staple in the Caribbean diet after it had been introduced via Polynesia by the British.

Breadfruit trees will make a wonderful addition to our diversification of agriculture and food security. Breadfruit trees can grow extremely tall, provide a lot of shade, bear hundreds of fruits that are very nutritious and abundant when in season. Green, or unripe breadfruit, can be cooked, baked or broiled and eaten as a vegetable in a consistency resembling a potato. The ripe breadfruit will turn sweet, and can be eaten, baked is best, as a dessert. As an added benefit, we have experimented with solar cooking of breadfruit in Hawaii, and the results were very tasty. All it takes is to put the entire breadfruit in the solar cooker, close the lid, and bake it for an hour or two. One breadfruit will easily provide a meal for five or six people and keep easily for a day or two without any refrigeration. That means the leftovers from the evening meal could be eaten the next morning.