{"id":1093,"date":"2018-10-23T11:16:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T09:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/didouqen.com\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2018-10-23T11:16:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T09:16:52","slug":"planting-seeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/planting-seeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Planting Seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Tim Ager<\/em><\/p>\n

Vising Engineering\u00a0Expert\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program<\/em><\/p>\n

My image of Morocco was dry, a desert, and not a place of agricultural growth.\u00a0 I was surprised by the vast olive groves and orchards of fruit trees often visible from the window of my train as I travelled from Marrakech, through Casablanca and Rabat, to Fez.\u00a0 Unfortunately, not all Moroccans experience the financial benefits that such trees can provide.<\/p>\n

Most rural Moroccans are subsistence farmers who survive by growing corn and barley \u2013 the low market value staple crops that are planted on 70% of Morocco\u2019s agricultural land, but account for only 10-15% of the country\u2019s agricultural revenue.\u00a0 This way of life is no longer sustainable, and the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) has taken on the challenge of breaking the cycle of poverty that entraps those who depend upon agricultural production.<\/p>\n

HAF has developed nurseries across the country to grow fruit and nut trees including pomegranate, fig, olive, almond and walnut.\u00a0 After a couple of years these trees are mature enough to be given to individuals in rural communities to help them increase their agricultural revenue.\u00a0 The trees are also distributed to schools, providing the opportunity to teach the next generation of Moroccans how to plant and care for trees.\u00a0 And the planting of trees brings additional environmental benefits: soil erosion prevention, deforestation reversal, and climate change mitigation.<\/p>\n

Over the last two weeks, I visited many of these nurseries on a Farmer-to-Farmer assignment funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).\u00a0 My job was to assess existing drip irrigation systems and to design irrigation systems for future nursery sites.<\/p>\n

One of these sites is located in Fes, at the Center for the Protection of Children \u2013 Abdelaziz Ben Driss, a welfare institution that serves children in vulnerable situations, those with legal problems, and\/or minors in detention.\u00a0 The Center provides vocational training in carpentry, ironwork, IT, literacy, and gardening.\u00a0 On my visit to the Center I saw a large garden plot (approximately 800m2<\/sup><\/b>) already tilled and partially planted with aromatic and medicinal herbs.\u00a0 All that was lacking was an irrigation system.\u00a0 The design for this nursery includes two plots totaling nearly 3,000m2<\/sup><\/b>, with a drip irrigation system that will water the garden plot as well.\u00a0 The opportunity to help install and maintain this irrigation system and the day to day care of plants will help engage the minds and bodies of the young people who live at the Center.<\/p>\n

I visited nurseries at the\u00a0Coll\u00e8ge Housseine Bin Ali in Moulay Yacoub (Fes region), and the Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, which are models for future\u00a0nurseries at the Universit\u00e8\u00a0Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah \u2013 Appied Sciences campus in Fes and at the Salam School in Ifrane.\u00a0 These nurseries will provide opportunities for children and young adults to learn about improved irrigation practices, caring for plants, and to spread their knowledge across Morocco.\u00a0 But the skills obtained from working directly with these nurseries can be much greater \u2013 including critical thinking, problem solving, engineering and design, communication, mentorship, and community service.<\/p>\n

There is no disputing the positive effects of HAF\u2019s nurseries \u2013 from educational, to environmental, to financial.\u00a0 But in reality, how much good can a few trees do?\u00a0 It\u2019s all a question of scale.\u00a0 HAF has already planted over two million fruit and nut trees in Morocco.\u00a0 While this is a significant number, it\u2019s only a fraction of Morocco\u2019s national goal of planting one\u00a0billion<\/em>\u00a0trees to overcome the inherent problems of subsistence agriculture.\u00a0 Consider that number: one billion.\u00a0 It seems impossible.\u00a0 How do you grow a project from one million trees to one billion trees?\u00a0 It all starts with the next nursery, the next seed.\u00a0 Another seed planted in the ground.\u00a0 Another seed planted in the mind of a child.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Tim Ager Vising Engineering\u00a0Expert\u00a0\u00a0 USAID Farmer-to-Farmer Program My image of Morocco was dry, a desert, and not a place of agricultural growth.\u00a0 I was surprised by the vast olive groves and orchards of fruit trees often visible from the window of my train as I travelled from Marrakech, through Casablanca and Rabat, to Fez.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}