July 15, 2005: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Farming: Michigan Farm News: Nate Engle of Reed City is in Marovoay, Madagascar working with a farmers' cooperative (97 farm families) to increase production of red rice and Arabica coffee.
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July 15, 2005: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Farming: Michigan Farm News: Nate Engle of Reed City is in Marovoay, Madagascar working with a farmers' cooperative (97 farm families) to increase production of red rice and Arabica coffee.
Nate Engle of Reed City is in Marovoay, Madagascar working with a farmers' cooperative (97 farm families) to increase production of red rice and Arabica coffee.
"I'm teaching and promoting a locally-developed rice planting technology that involves water control on rice fields instead of flooding them, weeding systematically with mechanical weeders, planting in grid patterns to maximize each plant's nutrient base, and using compost where possible to enrich fields."
Nate Engle of Reed City is in Marovoay, Madagascar working with a farmers' cooperative (97 farm families) to increase production of red rice and Arabica coffee.
Michigan ag volunteers needed for the Peace Corps
Caption: Twenty-three-year old Nate Engle of Reed City is in Marovoay, Madagascar (off the Southeast coast of Africa) working with a farmers' cooperative (97 farm families) to increase production of red rice and Arabica coffee.
[Excerpt]
"We are on the western edge of Madagascar's largest remaining corridor of rainforest which contains a number of animals and plants found nowhere else in the world," he said. "Intensifying yields on land that is already producing crops is important for the Malagasy people because their population is skyrocketing, land is becoming harder to acquire, and the land they do have is producing less and less each year when farmers practice traditional land management techniques," he said.
Engle is in the Peace Corps, which needs more agricultural volunteers to serve overseas, according to Scot Roskelley, spokesman for the Peace Corps' Chicago regional office, which recruits volunteers from Michigan.
"Currently, there are about 10 people from Michigan assigned to agricultural posts that require college agriculture degrees, but we could use many more," Roskelly said. "Trained agriculture volunteers are always the toughest to find, and when we don't find enough, there are communities who have put in requests for agriculture volunteers who go without."
Peace Corps assignments are for 27 months. All living expenses, including health and dental, are paid. At the conclusion of the 27 months, volunteers are given a $6,075 readjustment allowance. Roskelley said it's never too late to join the Peace Corps, explaining that the oldest volunteer right now is 82 years old. But young volunteers like Engle can plan on taking home a lifetime of satisfying memories.
"I'm teaching and promoting a locally-developed rice planting technology that involves water control on rice fields instead of flooding them, weeding systematically with mechanical weeders, planting in grid patterns to maximize each plant's nutrient base, and using compost where possible to enrich fields," Engle said. "This method yields up to five times more rice per hectare as traditional methods. In addition, I'm linking farmers to private- sector buyers where they are getting much higher prices for their goods than they would in their local markets. By increasing their yields, accessing new markets and learning more about the diverse environment around them, Malagasy farmers are practicing less slash-and-burn agriculture, cutting down less rainforest, which they traditionally do to cultivate more rice fields, and empowering themselves to better their economic situations," he said.
The farmers' cooperative Engle works with consists of subsistence farmers who have organized themselves in hopes that collectively, they can improve their livelihoods by working together. He said most live in small mud huts and have no more than five sets of clothes. "They are some of the hardest working people I've ever met, mainly because if they don't produce enough food, they go hungry," he said.
Engle grew up on a family farm north of Reed City.
"Mostly it was just a hobby farm, but we were always growing some corn, potatoes, tomatoes, squash and raising chickens, sheep, turkeys, goats and the like," he said. "I have transferred those experiences and applied them to learning about rice and coffee, and although I'm by no means an expert, the base knowledge is the same, which is critically important to those type of crops succeeding in the environment I now live in." Engle earned his B.S. degree in Agribusiness Management from Michigan State University.
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Story Source: Michigan Farm News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Madagascar; Farming
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