ECHOcommunity Actualizaciones
Notas Técnicas de ECHO #101: Carretilla de bambú de carga centrada 2024-01-16
Una carretilla estándar, con la rueda al frente, coloca cerca de la mitad del peso de la carga en el operador. Una carretilla de carga centrada coloca la rueda en el centro de la carga, desplazando el 90% o más del peso a la rueda en lugar de al operador. Esto permite que la carretilla se utilice para acarreo a distancia en caminos angostos. La carretilla de carga centrada es un antiguo diseño chino. La carga se colocaba alrededor y encima de una rueda grande (aproximadamente 1 m de diámetro). Esto permitía que los operadores transportaran cargas pesadas (incluidos pasajeros) por muchos kilómetros en senderos angostos. ECHO desarrolló un diseño que se ha modificado a una escala menor para utilizar una llanta de bicicleta.
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EDN Número 162 Disponible Ahora 2024-01-09
Temas de Relieve:
- Cultivo en curvas de nivel y barreras vivas para pequeños productores
- Taro (Colocasia esculenta)
- Del Banco de Semillas de ECHO: Arroz secado en horno como desecante para secar semillas
- Libros, Sitios Web y Otros Recursos: Aplicación Móvil ECHOcommunity Mobile App – Gestión de recursos
Cultivo en curvas de nivel y barreras vivas para pequeños productores
Robert Walle
Extracto:
Muchas de las distancias recomendadas entre barreras son demasiado angostas para los pequeños productores. Esto resalta la necesidad de que las barreras produzcan algo de valor para el productor. Los productores deben considerar la agrosilvicultura y los cultivos forrajeros para alimentar a los animales. Los árboles ocuparán más espacio que la mayoría de los cultivos anuales. Aumentar estas distancias a fin de que sean más favorables para el productor es una modificación común.
Share what you know about SE Asia Wild Foods! 2024-01-02
Plant Planet Plate is a recently launched project in Oddar Meanchey Province, Northwest Cambodia by Dr. Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam, a medical anthropologist and a National Geographic Explorer and Green Shoots Foundation, a UK/Cambodian registered NGO running a permaculture farm and training space in Oddar Meanchey. Plant Planet Plate aims to celebrate and document foraging and wild-food knowledge in Cambodia and demonstrate that building resilient landscapes and understanding food history can improve food security and curb the impacts of climate change.
We feel this project is timely as Cambodia's rich biodiversity is at threat from climate change, loss of habitat, and changes in ecosystem. Documentation of species is limited and if any, has been orally passed down by elders, family members, and Khmer Traditional Medicine healers. However, the role these plants play in supplementing diets (particularly during COVID 19 for example) shows how important it is to not only begin recognizing the villagers, foragers, and healers as the true custodians of this knowledge but also preserve their word because it's contribution to the plant-world, conservation efforts and academia is unmatched.
In June 2023 the team comprising, Dr Thao, Muneezay Jaffery from Green Shoots Foundation, and Mr Sarin Sak, a local agronomist, set out in the vicinity of Samraong District of Oddar Meanchey Province to conduct 50 interviews with households on the wild-foods they gather, how they eat them, where they go forage and so forth. This information and other details of the plants will be compiled into a database that will be available in English, French, and Khmer as essays for the use of academics, plant enthusiasts, growers, and food enthusiasts.
At the end of the 50 interviews (around four weeks) we have around 125 names of plants in Khmer and we are now taking the step to find corresponding scientific names, common names, and plant families. So far, using various sources, we have around 40 scientific names for the plants and are looking to the ECHO Community to help us identify a few more!
One thing we know is that plants and biodiversity don't observe political/administrative boundaries. Many of the plants enjoyed in Cambodia would also be popular in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries in Asia. So we hope the ECHO Community from those regions and within the diaspora will help us verify names of plants and any other details they can provide.
Notas Técnicas de ECHO 100: Sistemas de cama en producción animal 2023-12-19
Los sistemas de cama son un método de producción animal higiénica e integral en el cual los animales se crían en un espacio cerrado sobre un piso de cama orgánica. Los sistemas con material de cama grueso a veces se llaman sistemas de cama profunda. Los sistemas de cama le permiten priorizar la salud animal al proporcionar condiciones como las existentes en los ambientes naturales de los animales. Estos sistemas también ayudan a captar los desechos animales y transformarlos en formas útiles para la producción de cultivos.
Los animales pueden mantenerse en un sistema de cama durante parte o todo el ciclo de producción dependiendo del contexto del productor. Estos sistemas no producen tanto como los sistemas industriales pero pueden ser más rentables para los pequeños productores al reducir tanto riesgos como costos. ECHO conoce de sistemas de cama para cerdos, conejos, aves y rumiantes.
I-TEC Installs Solar Panels for ECHO Florida 2023-12-12
August may not be the preferred month to be installing solar panels on a shop roof in Florida, but our intrepid friends from I-TEC would not be denied. How we appreciate their good work!
I-TEC is a non-denominational ministry utilizing volunteers to meet the technical needs of missionaries and not-for-profit organizations worldwide.
Click here to see I-TEC pictures of the project.
Now Available! ECHO Asia 2024-2025 Seed Catalog 2023-11-28
ECHO Asia's Seed Bank recently released the 2024-2025 seed catalog. This new and improved catalog has a unique format to help you, our network member, better understand each seed and crop better. The catalog is grouped colorfully by category (fruits, grains, herbs & integrated pest management, leguminous trees, oil seeds, pulses & green manure cover crops, vegetables, and seed bundles). Each seed description includes a photo, elevation information, and other helpful details such as if the crop can be used for fodder or has some level of toxicity. If you are looking for a particular species or variety, the index at the back of the catalog can help you find what you are looking! Plants are indexed by Latin name, English common name, and Thai common name.
Download the catalog (PDF) Browse the ECHO Asia seed store online
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ECHO is looking for a Director to lead our East Africa Regional Impact Center, located in Arusha, Tanzania 2023-11-21
After many years of service, our Director of the ECHO East Africa Regional Impact Center is retiring and we are seeking a successor director to lead our dynamic East Africa Regional Impact Center team to continue to impact the region via the ECHO network. Since 2012, ECHO’s East Africa Impact Center has been serving our network across the region. The second of four RICs around the world, they have proven the adaptability and robustness of the RIC model to contextualize ECHO’s services to the unique needs and ecological/cultural contexts of those we serve. The first ECHO East Africa Director is now planning to retire in late 2024. This will allow the right candidate time to overlap with this passionate and highly effective individual.
The new director will expand and strengthen the capacity of the diverse regional network to defeat hunger and improve lives through sustainable food and agricultural strategies in East Africa. The director is responsible for building upon the current regional network and serving that network with joy by identifying, validating, sharing, and measuring the efficacy of contextualized agricultural strategies (4 core functions of ECHO) with technical excellence. In short, network building, team building, and training experience will be essential qualities of an effective director.
This position encompasses roles and responsibilities that are critical to the continued relevance of ECHO in the coming years to defeat hunger and bring restoration to people and the planet. Please help us share this opportunity with your network as we trust God to provide the perfect person for this time in ECHO's history.
Invitation to the ECHO Network: 3rd edition of the International Science Festival -“Science(s) & Agenda 2030, and beyond” 2023-11-13
Cirad, INRAE, IRD, and the Permanent Representation of France to the United Nations in Rome are co-organizing the third edition of the "International Science Festival: agriculture, food, environment," November 22 from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m (CEST - Rome time), on line.
All ECHOcommunity members are being invited to participate in this event.
We will discuss about SDGs/Agenda 2030 – Research – Agroecology – Zoonoses prevention – Space – soils and foresight
Un grand merci et n’oubliez pas de vous inscrire – be warmly welcome
Árboles con hoja comestibles Disponible Ahora 2023-11-07
El Perennial Agriculture Institute ha publicado un nuevo recurso de Eric Toensmeir (2022) titulado Trees with Edible Leaves (Árboles con hojas comestibles). Este libro gratuito y descargable incluye más de 100 especies cultivadas de plantas perennes. Tonesmeier primero presenta el valor, la distribución geográfica y la versatilidad de las plantas perennes con partes comestibles. Incluye información resumida sobre los nutrientes comunes y la abundancia de nutrientes que se encuentran en las plantas perennes cultivadas. El apéndice A contiene información nutricional detallada
Los editores ya han publicado una edición en español y piden que se les contacte si se desean traducciones adicionales. Trees with Edible Leaves de Tonesmeier está disponible gratuitamente en línea.
Descargar Árboles con hoja comestibles
From the Farm: Moringa for Seed Production 2023-10-31
Over the years, ECHO's seed bank in Florida has sourced Moringa oleifera seeds from both local and international sources. In 2009, a local church graciously allowed ECHO to plant a specific variety of M. oleifera on their property and later manage and harvest the seeds. That experience raised our awareness of local production's value in providing seeds to our network in light of the difficulty in sourcing seeds internationally. In 2021, we decided to produce M. oleifera seeds on our Global Farm in Fort Myers, Florida. This entailed a decision to prioritize seed production over that of trialing and demonstrating multiple varieties. An isolation distance of at least 500 m between M. oleifera varieties is recommended to prevent cross-pollination by bees. To offer and maintain genetic purity of a single variety, instead of seeds with a genetic mix of multiple varieties, we decided to grow just one variety on the farm for seed. Before doing this, we conducted a few trials to identify a variety with good production of mild-tasting leaves within easy reach from the ground. This meant we needed a variety with good branching characteristics leading to outward instead of just upward growth. We identified a variety, PKM-1 from Ghana, that fits those parameters. We removed all the other varieties from the farm and currently have 23 PKM-1 trees planted. As these trees yield seeds, we will plant more trees on the farm and offer seeds to our network. We look forward to serving our network with this variety!