Thinking about what is happening during drought (and climate change more generally) is important. Understanding is built on having a clear picture of what has been happening and what is now happening during times of stress. We are working on questions that will form surveys that may be formal or informal.
We will continue to discuss garden practices with farmers and develop most significant change stories as part of the process of developing understanding and advice for others.
Here are our starting points. Watch this space.
- Intensity of gardening, especially sweet potato gardening-
- Is it continuous or how many cycles do they go thro’ before fallow? and
- For how long do they fallow?
- What alternative foods have they been eating as their sweet potato ran out?
- In what sequence?
- What problems are those foods having?
- Where are they growing?
- What ideas do they have for improving the yield or storage of those foods?
- What steps are farmers taking to store food?
- Cassava, yam, corn, rice?
- Other steps to generate money to allow food purchases following frost or drought or other disasters – flood, insect damage?
- What steps are farmers taking to reduce erosion of valuable top soil?
- Barriers across hill side?
- Terracing of any form?
- Barriers in-between sweet potato mounds?
- Barriers in ditches?
- Redesign of ditches to slow water loss and soil loss?
- Use of clover or forage peanut (depending on altitude) in garden ditches.
- More to come.
- …