From the 22nd to the 25th of August 2022 we invited Youssouf from the « Association Mitsinjo » from Andasibe to our school garden. GEO generously funded the 4-day training with him about restoration and sustainable agriculture. We invited participants from different organisations in the Sava Region to join the training. The participants included teachers from CURSA regional University, people from NGOs (AS Matana, Madagascar Green Forest and DLC), the school garden team and additional local participants.
Day 1:
Youssouf explained to us how to select the land for planting trees. He said that the first step is to think about how much canopy cover you want to have and which are the dominant trees.
Day 2:
On this day we learnt about the system called VAM (Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae). It describes the relationship between Mycelium and Mycorhizza. The fungi of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae can colonize the root system of plants and positively affect nutrient uptake and growth. In the afternoon we collected Mycelium from three different trees and mixed it with white beans and rice and dug a hole. We placed the mixture there to stay for three months.
Day 3:
During this day we created a new system for the nursery. Here, we learnt about how to choose the best location for the nursery (east-west direction). We also learnt about how much shade the seedlings need.
Day 4:
We learnt about restoration techniques (how to plant) and the importance of the littoral forest in Madagascar.
Day 5:
In the morning part we learnt about how to prepare the soil for plantings. The technique we learnt helps seedlings to grow faster. We mixed sand with VAM as well as the shell of rice grains.
We thank Youssouf from Association Mitsinjo for his time and for generously sharing is extensive knowledge on restoration with us. We are very happy to connect with more organisations across Madagascar and sharing experiences.