Ebo - The Belgian non-governmental organisation (NGO) Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling (APOPO), is since Thursday, implementing a pilot syntropic forestry project in the community of Caiombo (Ebo), in the centre-west province of Cuanza Sul, in a cleared area of 500 square metres, as part of a programme to help peasant families in the district.
For the project with a funding of 5,000 euros from the Kingdom of Belgium and to ensure its implementation, the NGO trained 35 people in practical exercises, including technicians from the Agricultural Development Station and local farmers, who learnt agricultural production techniques using organic components over three days.
Syntropic agriculture is an agroforestry system characterised by organisation, integration, balance and the preservation of energy in the environment.
The director of the APOPO NGO in Angola, Manuel Agostinho, said that the pilot project will have an evaluation period of three months, with the communities being monitored, adding that after this period the Dutch agronomist residing in Kenya, Roland Van Reene will came again to Angola guide the group which will have the responsibility to implement also the project in other communities of the province.
"The initiative aims to help farming families in areas where demining work has been carried out to grow various products using more sustainable techniques, both from the point of view of reducing costs with industrial inputs and environmental balance, taking into account the fact that it is an agriculture characterised by the application of organic fertilisers, including manure, straw or sawdust and other products of animal and plant origin," he said.
He explained that the location for the implementation of the pilot project was chosen due to the favourable conditions for the practice of syntropic agriculture and other production factors were the basis for the selection of the municipality of Ebo for this trial, which should cover different regions of the province, with training activities and experimentation with this production model by certified farmers.
The official said that despite the farmers and technicians from Agricultural Development Stations (EDA) are engaged in activities related to the second season of the agricultural year 2023/2024, “training on syntropic agriculture aims to reinforce this commitment at a time that for example the municipality of Ebo, the concern is regard to the ageing soils, combined with the rise in the price of agricultural inputs, especially fertilisers".
At the time, the Ebo deputy administrator for Economic and Finance Sector, Manuel Lay Luciano, recognized that the soils in different areas of the municipality are aged and he believes APOPO and its partner´s works strengthen the local administration actions in this regard, given the advantages of the syntropic forestry.
The NGO essentially trains rats of the species Cricetomys ansorgei to detect landmines and tuberculosis.
In Angola, APOPO has been working for Norwegian People's Aid (APN) since 2012.
Over the last nine years, 31 rats have helped heavy machinery and people with metal detectors to clear fields in the provinces of Malange and Zaire.
LC/AC/MRA/jmc
