Earthsky
Private: Millennium Villages project in Africa sees big yield
03-14-2007 - Uncategorized
As the African nation of Rwanda heals from its civil war, an ambitious science-based plan is in place to help lift it from a cycle of poverty.
Josh Ruxin of Columbia University directs the Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda. It’s a testing ground for developmental aid in agriculture, health, and technology.
Some of the biggest gains so far have been in farming. Ruxin told Earth & Sky that in January of 2006, villagers were shown ways to improve crop yields; for example, planting in rows, instead of “broadcast” style, and by using a fast maturing natural variety of maize seed. About 30 weeks later, at the first harvest, the initial thousand families that we worked with … had the largest harvest that they had ever experienced.
Josh Ruxin: _Whereas previously, they had averaged maybe 100 to 250 kilograms of food per hectare, this time around they had produced 4.5 metric tons._
Ruxin told Earth & Sky that poverty can be eradicated in Africa.
Josh Ruxin: _During the next decade, we have a big opportunity to demonstrate that this is not the way that the world has to be. There are a lot of interventions that can be rolled out in short course, that can save lives, which will save millions of lives, which will improve stability, and which will change the world as we know it._
We’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
Josh Ruxin
Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health
Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health
also
The Earth Institute
Columbia University
Directs the “Millennium Villages Project, Rwanda
Access Project, Kigali, Rwanda”:http://www.mailmanschool.org/msphfacdir/profile.asp?uni=jnr4.
The world, especially the so-called “developing world” can learn a lot from the capitalist western world. There are many virtually stone age cultures struggling just to survive while self important idiots think these cultures are wonderful and should be preserved. How wonderful would it be if you yourself were reduced to survival farming? No time for internet or other leisure. Just hard work and hunger.
Ben, there may be some aspects to farm life in the developing world that have advantages over our culture. Clare Major has written a good article for Earth & Sky about the two years she spent in an African village as a Peace Corps volunteer … the lives of the people in her village were richer and more complex that we might imagine “survival farming” to be.
Meanwhile, interestingly enough, the subject of happiness in our culture is one that scholars around the world are beginning to address. In the past couple of weeks, there’s been a great discussion raging on two different scientists’ email lists about happiness. The scientific thought on this at present seems to be that – once your basic needs are met for food, shelter and so on – there’s no great advantage to becoming more and more wealthy from the standpoint of happiness.
This area of study is fairly new in science. But many scientists are interested and talking about it.
After all, how many people in our “developed” culture take anti-depressants? How many take drugs to sleep? How many divorces? How many school shootings? Are these the signs of a culture of happiness?
Earth & Sky will be putting out of post on the subject of happiness soon …
All the best,
Deborah
I TOTALLY AGREE WTIH YOU
ONCE BASIC NEEDS ARE FILLED, WE LOOK FOR WAR
First of all: it is the height of hypocrisy for folks living in the lap of luxury to run on at tbe mouth about how great the aboriginal cultures are.
Second, many countries in Africa had sound, modern agricultural practices before there were “liberated” back into the dark ages. Colonialism, while a long way from perfect, did have its advantages.
To sit in an easy chair surrounded by the modern conveniences of life and expound on how happy and great subsistence living is, is insane. These folks are working morning till night, to survive; not prosper.
I don’t know how many of you have lived without electric lights, without telephone, without refrigeration, without television etc? My wife and I did; in our hippie years for about four years. It was out of choice because we were rebelling against someting ( I disremember what, now). The truth is, we can live without a lot, but who wants to? YOu ask any of these pristine, unspoiled aboriginal folks working their fingers to the bone from dawn till dusk if they would rather sit in an easy chair at night and use a wahing machine to wash their clothes, if they would rather their kids took some antibiotics rather than die, I believe that if they understood what you were asking, they would eschew their pastoral life for a modern one.
The good old days were never really all that good. We people have a tendency to remember what we like and want to.