-----Original Message-----
From: Elfpermacl@aol.com
Asifo O. Ajuyah wrote:
>Hello Lion Knutz,
>Greetings from Samoa. I have just three questions for you :- (a) what will
>it cost to establish a 'micro-farm' on 1 hectare of land in rural
>Philippines with all the sub-systems mentioned in your memo? (b) most of the
>produce from the micro farm are highly perishable if the farmer can not sell
>what are your suggestions, and (c) how many 'micro-farms' are there in the
>Philippines currently?.
Greetings All:
I have produced 95 percent of food and about half the family income on
commparable land base in the USA. (We had more land, but most of it was in
sustainable yield-firewood production for a sizeable heating load in a
climate with only 90 assured frost-free days.) So I have a few views on the
matter.
First, as a matter of principle, the very highest quality food always
went to our family. Living in a climate where harvests are only practical
for, perhaps, 1/4 of the year, food preservation was a normal. Naturally, we
preserved those foods in particular surplus, with due care to a reasonably
balanced supply. One standard method of "preserving" food is to feed surplus
to livestock and then slaughter livestock when there is no surplus. In our
situation, this happened in the fall because we had no food then. Pigs were
slaughtered last because they could eat the offal of all other animals.
In a warm climate, this pattern would reflect both market and weather
fluctuations. There are also various value-added processes that can increase
the total profit considerably from a small operation while extending
shelf-life. Often these are fermentation processes that also improve the
nutritional value of the food. Inventory is both deferred income and backup
food supply for the family, depending on circumstances.
While I don't see any barriers to setting up such an arrangement, I don't
agree with recipies. People have to work out what makes sense in their
situations. Those of us who work in the field with homestead and farmstead
scale family situations can offer an assortment of strategies and options,
but always they need to be tailored. There is a tendency for people to
emulate a successful operation, and this should not always be encouraged.
It is better for people to fill different market niches than to glut one
particular niche.
Finally, I think it is an error to be too concerned with total start up
cost. Instead of looking at absolute numbers, we need to be looking as
startup PATHWAYS. In most cases, the family will have a certain amount of
land. How can they get from the level of welfare their land base contributes
now to the target of food self-reliance and a comfortable cash income? This
is a site-specific and family-specific design question. The land base may
need improvement, skills may need to be acquired and perfected, markets may
need development, and certainly the final diversity of seedstock, breeding
stock and other propagation materials needs development. There are likely
to be capital-improvement projects such as fencing, animal housing, etc., and
transportation to market may be required. Provision of suitable quality water
for various activities usually needs attention. These are examples, hardly a
full listing. The sequence of steps leading to the full implementation of the
design can be such that each step prepares the way for the next. This is
true not only for the development of production and marketing resources, but
also for the development of capital resources. The design also needs to
consider not only such cash flows, but also seasonal work flow. I once
interviews a successful small farmer in Massachusetts (USA) who drove this
point home to me. Raspberries, he told me, produce the highest value per
acre of any crop he can grow. So I asked why he bothered with other crops
(potatoes, cucumbers, asparagus, etc.) To summarize his answer, the reason
is work flow. Instead of hiring temporary labor to pick all the raspberries
he can grow, a prospect he felt ill advised, he arranged his year to provide
steady work for a much smaller crew. The principle scales down nicely to the
family homestead, where one of the many values of diverse enterprises is the
capacity to even the work load on family members. (Of course a low work
period can be scheduled for a festive period, work flow can allow for
schooling of children in parts of the year, etc.) While diversity can allow
for a work flow that optimized production and grants a high quality of life,
it can be assured only by design of that diversity. In my opinion, it is
preferable to teach the design process than to try to design for others
because they have more depth of awareness of the factors in their situation
and resources than we would ever want to have, except for ourselves. As a
general principle, it is best to be conservative in what one attempts, with
appropriate tasks designated as something that can be done if the minimum
design objecties for labor are met. The small amounts of capital needed to
optimize a hectare or so are importatn to a subsistence family; work flow is
even more important. And there are many community-based models that can be
developed for improved short-term access to small amounts of capital.
Dan Hemenway, Co-Director
Barking Frogs Permaculture Center
Sparr Florida USA
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 11 2000 - 22:02:06 EDT