News from ECHO Asia Impact Center

Tony Rinaudo, Natural Resource Management Specialist with World Vision
Dr. Tom Post, CRWRC Team Leader for Asia
Dr. Arnat Tancho, head of the Soil Resources and Environment Department at Maejo University (Chiang Mai)
Randy Bevis, founder and director of the Chiang Mai Aquatic Development Farm and regional aquaculture advisor
Jeff Palmer, Executive Director of Baptist Global Response
Heather Morris, Technical Advisor for World Concern Myanmar
Di Matthews, physician working in Papau, Indonesia
Dr. Karl Frogner, President and Project Development Head; UB International (UBI), biochar researcher and advocate
Dr. Samran Sombatpanit, Past President and Membership Coordinator of the World Association of Soil and Water Conversation (WASWC)

Workshops

ECHO conferences place a special emphasis on the participation of network members to share ideas, innovations and experiences during afternoon and evening workshops. Feel free to contact us (echoasia@echonet.org ) to propose a workshop presentation.

Post Conference Tours including site visits related to:

SRI and natural rice production
Small-scale alternative energy for communities, institutions, farms and households
Agroforestry
Green manure cover crops
Aquaculture
Vermiculture
Production of moringa and products such as powdered leaf meal and capsules
Asian natural farming (microbial approaches to small scale agriculture)

Resource Fair

A Resource Fair featuring displays and booths by various development organizations and businesses will be offered. Tables will be provided on which organizational displays can be set up so that posters and promotional materials may be displayed. Additionally, books, booklets, CDs and other types of media may be distributed or sold from these booths. If you are interested in requesting a space in the resource fair, please contact Ellen Burnette at eburnette@echnonet.org. The cost for a resource fair table is $20 or 600 Thai Baht and may be paid at the time of Conference.

As always, the ECHO Asia Agriculture and Community Development Conference will offer an excellent opportunity to learn, share and network. We encourage everyone to register soon for this event.

ECHO Asia Has a New Name and a New Address

new office When established in 2009, ECHO Asia operated under the official title of the ECHO Asia Regional Office. Our office was the first among other regional offices that ECHO is in the process of establishing in various parts of the world.

However, ECHO recently changed the name of its international branches from Regional Offices to Regional Impact Centers. Therefore, we have been rechristened as the ECHO Asia Impact Center. The new name is intended to better reflect the broad scope of activities and services being offered by ECHO in each global region.

Also, ECHO Asia has moved from the campus of Chiang Mai's McCormick Hospital to a new location approximately 800 meters from the old site. The new address is:

270/5 Tung Hotel Soi 6

Chiang Mai 50000

Phone: (053)304-028

The mailing address (P.O Box 64, Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand), remains the same.

The new location has considerably more room as well as outdoor space in which various ECHO Asia Seed Bank crop varieties are being grown in demonstration plots. Additionally, various urban/backyard agriculture approaches are being demonstrated, including vertical and container gardening as well as vermiculture and catfish production in cement tanks.

The new office offers a technical resource library for visitors. Also, seed packets and a limited selection of perennial vegetable and agroforest seedlings are on sale.

Besides being accessible by vehicle from Tung Hotel Road, the new location is easily accessible by foot from the Arcade Bus Station.

If you are in Chiang Mai, we invited you to visit us at our new location.

ECHO Asia Tropical Agriculture Workshop

Tropical Agriculture Workshop

During January 19-21, over 35 persons from Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere met in a simple training hall on the Partners Thailand demonstration farm just outside of Chiang Mai during the ECHO Asia's first Three-Day Tropical Agriculture Workshop. Participants gained hands-on training related to grafting fruit trees, the production of moringa and its products, soap

soap making workshop

making for development, natural farming of pigs and backyard mushroom production. Additionally, a vermiculture training session, led by Dr. Arnat Tancho, was held on the nearby campus of Mae Jo University.

Other sessions were led by Betsy Langford (former ECHO intern and currently a student at Chiang Mai University's SAIWAM Program), Partners Thailand personnel, Boonsong Thansrithong, Sombat Chalermliamthong and Dorothy Kahn as well as ECHO Asia staff.

Feedback from meeting participants was extremely favorable. As a result, ECHO Asia and Partners plans to hold the next Chiang Mai-based workshop in January 2012 (we will be announcing details over the next few months). Additionally, we are in the process of planning similar

vermiculture workshop

training activities in other countries in Asia as well; details forthcoming.

The ECHO Asia Regional Impact Center is extremely grateful to Partners Thailand and Mae Jo University for their significant involvement in the 2011 Tropical Agriculture Workshop.

News from our Network
ARI in the aftermath of the recent Japan earthquake

ARI library after earthquake

On March 11 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the northern Japanese island of Honshu triggering a massive tsunami and a related crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Thus far, loss of life numbers at least several thousand with the overall extent of damage still beyond calculation.

Among those affected is the Asian Rural Institute, http://www.ari-edu.org/english/index.html, an international training ground for grassroots rural leaders located in Nasushiobara-shi, Tochigi-ken on the island of Honshu. Since founded in 1973 by Rev. Dr. Toshihiro Takami, 1,130 rural leaders from 51 countries throughout Asia, Africa, and the Pacific (many of them ECHO network members) have been trained at ARI for the purpose of preparing them to engage in rural development activities back home.

Steven Cutting, in charge of ecumenical relations at ARI, has sent reports since the March 11 earthquake. The following are excerpts from his e-mails:

March 16

It has been 5 days since the earthquake but we are still in the middle of the prolonged and incredibly nerve-racking disaster of the nuclear power plant failure. Every day we wait for the news and when one problem seems to get solved at the plant another one starts and the situation remains critical. Of course the big question is about whether we are safe from the radiation. We are situated about 130km from the plant and the radiation levels you here on the news consist mostly of those at the plant itself and in the immediate vicinity. From yesterday we started getting regular reports about the radiation levels here in the area of ARI. Presently it stands at 1.4 microsieverts per hour. Last night it went as high as 1.7 microsieverts/hour. So what the heck does that mean? Well in this area the normal radiation levels are 0.027 microsieverts per hour. A standard chest x-ray exposes you to 100-300 microsieverts in one shot. A flight from New York to Tokyo exposes you to 200 microsieverts.

March 17

There is little change in the situation at the nuclear power plant. They are continuing to try to find ways to get and keep enough water on the reactors to prevent them from melting down. There is real threat of a meltdown, but even if that happens ARI is said to be at a distance that is safe enough. Nevertheless we are taking precautions. We have made the seminar house our refuge as it was not at all damaged in the quake. Today we restocked ourselves with food and water - vegetables from the gardens, several bags of rice. Nearly all the foodstuffs we need we have in plenty. Our whole self-sufficiency life style is paying off big time. We are even in a situation to help others and have taken in 3 boys who evacuated from the town of Iwaki (40 km from the plant). We are also distributing eggs and milk to neighbors and to evacuation centers that were recently set up in town. We are also sealing all the windows and have cleared out the basement of this building in case we really do have to hunker down for a few days.

April 18

ARI office after earthquake

We are moving forward, however, with our plans to begin the training program on May 2, just one month late. We are expecting 22 participants. The number is a bit less than usual because we had some difficulties with visas, but this year it will be helpful to have a smaller class. About two weeks ago we made a major decision to hold the first part of our training at a different location. Since all of our students come from overseas and live on campus, ARI bears somewhat more responsibility for their health and well-being than a typical school. The main reasons for this precautionary measure are: (1) the facilities in ARI are not completely ready for use. Work is going quickly and smoothly, but completion will require more time (2) We still continue to experience aftershocks in this area (3) The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant remains unstable. We are located 110 km from the plant. The government has issued no warnings about this region and no special actions are being taken at other schools in Nasushiobara (except to reduce outdoor sports and activities). However as long as the plant continues to leak radiation at the current rate we feel more comfortable relocating temporarily.

The first 30 to 90 days of the training will be held at the Theological Seminary for Rural Mission in Tsurukawa, a suburb of Tokyo. This seminary is the birthplace of ARI and they have kindly allowed us to make use of their facilities.

ARI and all of the people of Japan are in our thoughts and prayers. To make a donation towards ARI's recovery efforts, follow the instructions below:

American Citizens can send a check to:

American Friends of ARI (AFARI)

c/o Steve Gerdes - Treasurer

11920 Burt St., Suite 145

Omaha, NE 68154-1598

Designate "ARI relief" on the check

or donate online through AFARI at http://friends-ari.org/

Canadian citizens

Cheques payable to The United Church of Canada can be sent to:

United Church of Canada

Partners in Mission Unit

3250 Bloor St. W.

Etobicoke, ON M8X 2Y4

Attn: Pat Elson (Please designate "ARI relief" on the cheque)

In Japan

Postal Transfer 00340-8-8758

Account Name: Gakko Hojin Asia Gakuin

In Europe

German Citizens can make tax deductable donations through the European Friends of ARI (EFARI). Please see their website at www.efari.org Europeans of other countries may also donate through EFARI, but it would not be tax deductable.

Aloha Farm

Aloha Farm

The Aloha Natural Farm is located in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines on 2.8 hectares and is affiliated with Aloha House, a non-stock, non-profit, Non-Government Organization and charitable mission serving Palawan and the nation of the Philippines. Aloha House founder, Keith Mikkelson, describes himself as having been a novice farmer who was able to gain an understanding of tropical agriculture quickly from ECHO Technical Notes.

Keith reports that the Aloha Farm consists 1.3 hectares (3.3 acres) of vegetables and herbs and 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres) of pasture, fish ponds, water catchment and orchard having "incredible biodiversity... despite being a small area." He also states, "With the help of ECHO Technical Notes we were able to develop our own research and implement what worked. Pest and weed management are seen as part of the fertility management. Crop residue and weeds are utilized for compost as well as pest control. Aloha farm created soil fertility through resource recovery".

Aloha Farm offers training to farmers through regular three-day intensive trainings related to sustainable agriculture and hosts interns for four months from farms throughout the Philippines and neighboring nations. Keith says that much of the interest has grown from the success of his book A Natural Farming System for Sustainable Agriculture in the Tropics.

For more information about Aloha Farm and to inquire about Keith's book you can contact him at mik@mozcom.com.

Response to the March 24 Earthquake in Shan State, Myanmar

Myanmar earthquake

On March 24, 2011, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the Shan State of northeast Myanmar. The latest casualty figures are in the hundreds with over 150 reported dead by the Bangkok Post.

Regional ECHO network members, the Myanmar Baptist Convention, the Mekong Minority Foundation and other partners are conducting joint efforts to assist those in Myanmar affected by the quake.

Scott Coates, with MMF, reports that water and plastic sheeting for temporary shelter as well as noodles, plates, matches, cooking oil and other items have been distributed among affected persons. Damage assessments and other types of response are continuing.

He also shares that one of the most urgent needs is access to clean water as the five communities most affected by the earthquake have experienced problems with their water sources, including a strange odor. This has prompted the need for water quality testing. Scott reports that the Metta Foundation is providing water filters in response to the need.

Besides water concerns, the biggest need is the rebuilding of homes. Scott describes that "the most affected are still living in tents as their homes are either badly damaged or completely destroyed."

For more information on how to contribute to the Shan State earthquake response efforts contact Scott Coates at scottc@minorityleadership.org.

Job Opportunity

Samaritan's Purse International

Samaritan's Purse International is announcing a position opening for Program Manager, Agriculture and Livestock, in Cambodia. For more information follow this link:

Samaritan's Purse Position Announcement

The ECHO Asia Impact Center operates under ECHO, a non-profit, Christian organization that helps you help the poor to produce food in the developing world .

ECHO

17391 Durrance Rd.

North Fort Myers, FL 33917 USA

Phone: (239)543-3246

Fax: (239)543-5317