Growing Knowledge & Building Partnerships

Volunteeer Alan Robinson exploring Cimarrones' biodiversity. Alan Robinson, retired Community-Based Tourism Consultant hailing from Buena Vista, CO, will be wrapping up his 3-week trip to Ecuador in just a few days. Mr. Robinson has been in the Baeza region of Ecuador (2.5 hours SE of Quito) since November 14th, where he and host Noé Pinto of La Corporación Ecológica Cimarrones (Cimarrones Ecological Corporation) have been exploring sustainable and environmentally-friendly ecotourism opportunities for Baeza’s Cimarrones sector. Key objectives of Mr. Robinson’s visit include: completing an evaluation of the potential value of Cimarrones’ natural resources and biodiversity; providing recommendations on how to utilize these resources to initiate an ecotourism project; and connecting with other ecotourism companies in the region to discuss collaboration. Last week, Mr. Robinson provided the following update from the field, describing the activities that he and Noé have carried ...

"Guyana is a weird country, you know. But I'm sure you've figured that out by now.." mused the newest guest at the bed and breakfast. In fact, we had. Jack and I met up in Miami, him having come from a hectic five weeks campaigning for the elections and I from 5 months teaching in Patagonia, Chile. It was an appropriate meet-up. As two young travelers, naturally we would be sharing a bacon pizza in Miami before heading out to teach video production in Guyana. We were excited, for the project as well as visiting a country neither one of us had considered visiting prior. Nearly two weeks later, we are both in agreement that this country is unlike any other. From the parade of rescued dogs that meet us every time we unlock both security gates to get to our house, to a different style of chicken and rice being served at every corner, we have ceased to be surprised. Men with dreadlocks drive horse-drawn carts, competing with traffic and taxis. Lotus flowers are ...

The libraries in the Dominican Republic face serious challenges when it comes to book stacks and storage. Library materials require stable environmental conditions. Spikes in humidity and heat are unkind to books. The library at the Universidad ISA faces such challenges. The library windows are open with no glass panes or screens. There are some wooden blinds that are often closed to keep out the sun. While this helps keep the students and library staff comfortable, the books in the stacks suffer from the heat and humidity. Since the library is not air conditioned some ceiling fans keep the air moving. Because the windows are open, pests such as termites, polillas, and moths have direct access to the stacks. They enjoy a diet of glue from the bindings and paper from the textblock. Mold and mildew thrive in tropical climates and the books in the Biblioteca ISA are not immune to this. We found evidence of mold and mildew in many books in the stacks. Other effects of high humidity ar...

This photo, received from F2F Volunteer and Carbon Roots International co-founder Ryan Delaney, shows the power of biochar for soil fertility in Haiti In August, Carbon Roots International co-director and founder Ryan Delaney traveled to the North of Haiti to team up with Partners of the Americas' Farmer to Farmer Program and conduct trials and trainings on biochar. Biochar is agricultural waste which is transformed into a potent soil amendment; it sequesters carbon and can be made into charcoal to be used for cooking fuel. To read more about biochar visit CRI's website . While in Haiti this month, Ryan and Farmer to Farmer staff checked on the trials and trainees they had previously visited and were impressed with the results. Perhaps most astounding was the change that occurred at Matelot Placid's farm in Acul du Nord, pictured above. While in Acul du Nord in August, Ryan had trained 30 men and women in making biochar and left instructions ...

From October 5th - 28th, Maryland resident Maixent "Izzy" Ralaingita provided training in Natural Disaster Risk Mitigation to residents of 3 communities in El Salvador. Mr. Ralaingita, an Emergency and Disaster Management professional, was requested by Salvadorean non-profit PROBUSQUEDA to work with these 3 communities to build their capacity to live safely with natural hazards and deal effectively with natural disasters. Community members listen attentively as Mr. Ralaingita reviews disaster mitigation concepts.  PROBUSQUEDA , which advocates for victims of El Salvador's civil war and provides food security programs for victims and their families, recognized the need for community Natural Disaster Mitigation training when heavy rains in the Fall of 2011 flooded homes and destroyed crops. Community members found themselves inadequately prepared for such an event and unable to effectively and efficiently respond. Thinking about the future and strongly considering...

The following blog post comes from Robert Spencer, Alabama Cooperative Extension personnel and repeat Farmer to Farmer volunteer, who writes about his past week in Haiti: Robert and producer in La Coline inspect teeth to determine age of buck The first five years of my visits to Haiti have primarily focused on meat quality and food safety as it relates to rabbit production and processing; much of is based on HACCP guidelines. During the past year (year 6) I have added production quality, or as I call it “Animal Welfare”, to my subject matter. This topic was the result of my realization that producers lacked a basic understanding of production essentials in regards to caring for their animals. Based on my observations, I decided to focus on specific areas including nutrition (vegetation, feed, and water), care of newborn, shade and protection from harsh environmental conditions, sanitation, and more. I felt this area was more important knowing that without quality production, ...

This year, the Nicaraguan Dairy Chamber (CANISLAC) joined the first Pan-American milk consumption campaign, promoted by the Pan-American Dairy Federation (FEPALE). As part of this initiative, CANISLAC developed a campaign that aims to raise awareness and engage various stakeholders in promoting dairy consumption as highly beneficial to human health. A campaign flyer with nutrition facts The ca mpaign is centered around talks given during school visits. These talks focus on the importance and nutritional benefits of consuming dairy products and their derivatives. In addition to visiting schools, the campaign utilizes the media — including three TV channels, the backs of buses, billboards and commercials — in an attempt to reach most of Nicaragua's population. Farmer to Farmer volunteers with Nicaraguan counterparts This year, Farmer to Farmer volunteers Danitza Tomianovic and Batya Silva participated in the movement.  During their assignments, which focused on ...

Our first day was spent working with Mario Torres, the Technical Services Technician a the library at the Universidad ISA. Mario gave us a tour and explained the library processes and services. The library offers photocopying services on the first level and a small computer/multimedia lab just across the way. Many students use the breezeway between the two areas as a study space. Upstairs is a reading room and the library collection. The students can use one computer in the reading area to access the library catalog and databases as well as in the computer lab. The library catalog is not available through the internet. There is a small alcove with journals and then a closed stack area. A library staff member must retrieve the material for the library user as the material is not readily available to the library user. All of the technical services work is done in Mario's office. Currently, the focus is on scanning the older theses. The plan is to make them available to the students...

Bright and early on Monday morning, our field officer, Don Rafael picked us up at the hotel. Our first stop was the Universidad Nacional Henriquez Umana. The Farmer to Farmer office is located in the university. We met a volunteer, Brit, who is taking photographs around the DR for F to F. We also met Felix who was starting his first day as a field officer. Rafael took us to the library on campus where we had a short tour of the library. It had AC, several computers available for searching the internet, a reference area, special collections, a Dominican collection, and several reading rooms. It was a nice impromptu introduction to academic libraries in the DR. We continued on to Santiago and our assignment at the library at the Universidad ISA. Along the way we stopped for a morning coffee and some quipe. Quipe is similar to falafel but made from wheat. It was delicious. After a two hour ride we arrived at our hotel in Santiago. The area where the hotel is located is primarily commerc...

This post below comes from our Farmer to Farmer Team in Guyana: Volunteer Samuel Schaefer-Joel with formulations of organic pesticides On September 16, 2012 Mr. Sam Schaefer-Joel, a Product Review Coordinator of the Organic Materials Review Institute based in Oregon, USA, travelled to Guyana to help the Guyana F2F Field Team come up with appropriate recipes of home-made natural pesticides made primarily from locally available raw materials, such as neem and hot pepper. He also provided advice on how to use and how to store the natural pesticides. Samuel, who is also a Master Gardener and Master Composter / Recycler and who had farmed for several years in Mexico and California, was most suited for this hands-on type of assignment. While in Guyana he visited several shadehouses and met with shadehouse operators in order to understand the production system as well as the types of pests that are common to that system. Samuel’s main focus was to modify an existing natural pesti...