A permaculture project



Testigo Projects Inc. is a not-for-profit association whose goal is to empower people by creating a positive and sustainable community around progressive water, food, and adult educational practices. 

"Testigo Africa is teaching Masai women and men to grow their own food for the first time using permaculture principles. Ukuaji is the Swahili word for 'grow' - growing food, growing people."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIzVeDHi9e4



Testigo Africa. Retrieved from http://www.testigoafrica.org/

Testigo Africa. (2014, August 11). Testigo Africa's Ukuaji (Short Version) Permaculture Project [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIzVeDHi9e4

The following excerpt is taken from "The Whole Village Report" written by the University of Minnesota and focuses on sources of income in the Longido district.

"Livestock keeping is the main source of income for all households surveyed. Yet in all four villages, over 90 percent of households have lost livestock to either drought or disease. Such high loss
exacerbates the financial security of a household since it depends mainly on that livestock for
income. Although more livestock are lost to drought than disease, livestock in Longido district are at high risk of disease due to very low vaccination rates. For example, no cows in either Elerai or
Kimoukuwa were vaccinated against any disease. To increase financial security at household and
village level, the district has the opportunity to decrease risk of infection, and thereby livestock and
income loss, by increasing vaccination rates.

Income from livestock sales is the most common source of income for all households surveyed: more than two-thirds of households earned some income from livestock sales and 20-25 percent earned over Tsh 500,000 in the last 12 months. Households earning income from a source other than livestock keeping are most likely to earn it through business, salary or trade (Elerai, Kimoukuwa, Tingatinga) or remittances (Eworendeke). Neither farming nor the sale of livestock products or natural resources is a primary or significant source of income for households in any village surveyed. Farming is the main occupation of the household head in very few households surveyed: 0-3 percent in Eworendeke and Kimoukuwa, 17 percent in men who participated in focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted in each village named livestock keeping and agriculture/farming as the main ways of making a living. Male FGDs as well as FGDs held among women and village leaders, respectively, proposed potential activities that could improve the livelihoods of villagers. The highest-ranked recommendations of each of these three groups are listed in Table 1. As one can see from the results, there is little innovative thinking and this micro focus on what may be possible could be hindering further development of entrepreneurial activities. "



*Note

The Whole Village Project report was conducted in August of 2010 and was most recently revised in June of 2011.

http://wholevillage.umn.edu/documents/Longido.pdf