A major emphasis of the ECHO Asia Impact Center is to facilitate accessible, affordable and practical agriculture and community development training opportunities for development workers.  Thus far in 2012, two such events have been offered in Chiang Mai, Thailand and Kompong Speu, Cambodia.   And more are coming.

Over 30 persons participated in the 2012 ECHO Asia Tropical Agriculture Workshop held at Partners Farm near Chiang Mai during January 19-21.  Attendees were from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Bhutan, Japan, the Philippines and well as from the US, Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada and Belgium.

Hands-on training included topics such as humane slaughter of livestock, SRI rice seedling management, organic vegetable production, backyard fish production, production of charcoal and wood vinegar with 200-liter drums, gasifier stoves, introduction to bio-sand filters, production of charred rice husks and backyard bladder-type biogas generators.  

Post-workshop evaluations included the following remarks:

"I had a great time and feel very inspired to do the things I learnt at the workshops.  I like how the workshops were informal, friendly, and (offered) simple techniques.  I feel like I could easily go home and try any of them"

"An excellent opportunity to have knowledge and meet like-minded people"

"Wish I could come next year"

"Good job, ECHO!"

The following month, the Wholistic Development Organization (based in Phnom Penh) and ECHO Asia co-hosted the 2012 ECHO Cambodia Agriculture Workshop during Feb. 21-23 at the Peri-Urban Agriculture (PUAC) and Jumpah Centers in Kompong Speu. Over 40 persons from 18 Cambodian organizations participated in the Khmer language event.  

In addition to networking opportunities, with involvement from PUAC, Jumpah, IDE, Cambodia Global Action and Partners Thailand, activities included an introduction to seed exchange and center tours as well as workshop sessions on post-harvest vegetable management, drip irrigation and natural farming.

The Cambodia workshop received high marks for the organizational networking and sharing session and center tours as well as training sessions related to postharvest practices and marketing of organic vegetables, the production and use of indigenous microorganisms and natural pig farming.  Participants also indicated a strong interest in attending another workshop within the next few years.

The next educational event with ECHO Asia involvement is the Workshop on Agriculture and Food Security to be held in Sahibganj, Jharkhand, India over March 19-22.  Co-sponsored by EFICOR and World Relief Canada, the workshop topics and activities will include improvement of hill cultivation, agroforestry, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) and environmental preservation as well as a seed exchange.

Finally, plans are being made for an ECHO Myanmar Agriculture Workshop, tentatively scheduled to be held in Yangon during October 30-November 1, 2012.  Additional details will be announced soon.  

Depending upon agriculture for their livelihoods, the Khasi, Garo and Rabha people inhabit the hilly western end of Meghalaya State in northeast India. With limited irrigated rice paddy land, many families depend on hill fields on which to carry out shifting cultivation of upland rice, corn, broom-grass and other minor crops. 

Since 2009 the ECHO Asia Impact Center has been consulting with the Northeast India Committee on Relief and Development (NEICORD) with a food security project in the Patharkhmah area of Meghalaya State.  With major support from the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) and the Foods Resource Bank (FRB), NEICORD's work in Partharkhmah has focused mainly on improving farm productivity and food security through efforts related to the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), Sloping Agriculture Land Technology (SALT) and Small Kitchen Gardens.

SRI is an alternative approach to rice production with the following characteristics: (1) increased aeration of the soil through decreased flooding of paddy and increased cultivation which also controls weeds; (2) planting single seedlings between 8-14 days old to decrease competition between seedlings and minimize disruption of seedling root system growth; (3) wider planting distances along straight rows, often 25-30 cm apart, to minimize rice plant competition and to facilitate access by mechanical cultivators; and (4) improvement of rice paddy soil through the application of compost or through the use of green manure/cover crops.  Throughout the world, implementation of SRI has been documented to improve rice yields without additional chemical fertilizers and other external inputs.

SALT is an agroforestry system originating in Southeast Asia that makes use of vegetative contour hedgerows to control soil erosion on steep farmland.  Nitrogen-fixing trees growing in the hedgerows also produce leaf trimmings, a source of soil-improving organic matter.

The Small Kitchen Garden effort focuses on year round household food production through digging raised vegetable beds, mulching and improved access to water.  Additionally, fencing to exclude animals and the improvement of soil condition and fertility through composting and natural fertilizers are promoted.

Making annual consultation trips to the area, ECHO Asia evaluated early project activities related to the three main agricultural approaches.  Training and technical resources such as information and seeds were shared.  And during each consultation visit, specific recommendations and action plans were provided.  After a few years of collaboration and effort, NEICORD is reporting encouraging early results.

As of 2011, 112 participating farmers were evaluating and implementing SRI.  And based on harvest records from 12 SRI demonstration farms, the average yield of the SRI plots was calculated at 3.57 t/ha compared to 2.96 t/ha in adjacent conventionally grown rice; a 17% increase for SRI.   

Regarding SALT, over the 3-year period, 78 households had begun to evaluate and implement the system by planting contour hedgerows of Tephrosia candida (white hoary pea) over significant areas of sloping land planted mainly in permanent crops.  While natural, low growing vegetation was already controlling soil erosion to a large extent, the farmers still reported benefits from the partial shading effect of the tephrosia hedgerows on their recently-established diversified crop plantings (e.g. betel, citrus, mango, black pepper).  They also appreciated the natural mulch provided by the fallen leaves that improves the soil and conserves moisture.

And related to NEICORD's Small Kitchen Gardens effort, 267 households have begun to implement improved small kitchen gardens, most of them adopting key practices such as planting diversified types of garden crops, mulching plant beds and adding compost.

Tom Post, who serves as team leader for CRWRC in Asia, stresses that a key factor for these early food security successes is NEICORD's participatory development approach.  Initially, community-based, self-reliant saving/lending groups were organized as well as people's institutions such as farmer groups.  Such organization enabled the Patharkhmah partners to have a necessary sense of ownership related to evaluating and adopting key food security approaches.

Working alongside NEICORD, CRWRC and FRB, ECHO Asia is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Patharkhmah farmers' in their evaluation and adoption of SRI, SALT and Small Kitchen Gardens.  We also welcome additional reports from other network partners concerning any positive outcomes in which ECHO has played a role.    

If you have not signed up for ECHOcommunity.org then some of the things you might be missing out on include:

• One-stop access to a tremendous amount of ECHO agriculture and community development information including: over 50 issues of ECHO Development Notes (EDN) in three languages, the entire text of the book "Amaranth to Zai Holes", close to 100 Technical Notes in three languages, hundreds of plant information sheets and a wealth of information in ECHO's Seed Bank and Nursery sections
• A chance to network by joining affinity groups that will allow you to connect with like-minded individuals and others working in your geographic region, such as Southeast Asia or special interest groups including Conservation Agriculture and Community Gardens.  You can even request a new group.
• Direct access to ECHO Asia Notes articles and including editions in Thai, Khmer and Burmese.
• Convenient access to the ECHO seed catalog and on-line orders as well as access to the ECHO Asia Seed Bank Catalog for 2012.
• Opportunities to take advantage of the ECHO Community Career Center on which job openings and CV/resumes can be posted
• Updates on upcoming ECHO events worldwide, including Asia

Persons involved in development work can join ECHOcommunity.org free of charge.  For more information, click on this link https://echocommunity.site-ym.com/general/register_member_type.asp

Dick Tinsley, Professor Emeritus at Colorado State University, forwarded us information about Village Earth's (http://villageearth.org/) on-line certificate program in community-based development.

Presented through Colorado State University's Department of Continuing Education, this program uses "a multi-sector, participatory approach that focuses on empowerment of people as both the ends and means of a
sustainable development process."

To earn a certificate in community-based development, one required course and three elective courses must be completed.  Each course runs five weeks and requires a minimum of 20 hours of student participation.  Courses can be taken in any order.  

Clicking on any course will lead directly to a webpage that provides a course description and details how to register. Dick's course is "Challenges in Smallholder Agriculture".

Josh Kearns is a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Engineering / Engineering for Developing Communities at Colorado University-Boulder. He is also the Director of Science for Aqueous Solutions (http://www.aqsolutions.org/), a small US- and Thailand-based non-profit working to promote livelihood security, environmental and economic sustainability, and local self-reliance through ecological design and appropriate technologies in water, sanitation, and hygiene.   

Josh recently informed us about the International Training Course on Biochar Production, Testing and Utilisation to be held at Nanjing Agricultural University in the People's Republic of China during September 10-15, 2012.  The course will be held in conjunction with the University of New South Wales and Newcastle University. 

The target audience includes:

• Decision makers in organizations who wish to develop policies and programs at national or regional levels
• Project managers who are designing and/or implementing research and development and demonstration of commercial products
• Senior extension personnel in the agricultural and low carbon technology sectors
• Owners or senior executives who are and have set up an enterprise that includes the manufacture of biochar or biochar-related products 

Use the following link to access more information about the course and for application details:  http://sea-biochar.blogspot.com/2012/03/international-training-course-on.html