The Grass root people…

Small growers are responsible in providing most of the vegetables we consume locally in Mauritius.  Some contribution is also made by large sugar estates.  We currently are self-sufficient in fresh vegetables, but for how long will this trend continue?

Times of Change...

Times of change might be the answer

Times of change might be today's prayer;

Look out at the sky, at the infinite blueness

Summer is again calling out, birds are building new nests...

The world is new, unlike the grey yesterday

And Today is also a new day;

Days and weeks and months have gone by

The tree has bloomed, the pond is dry,

Life has revolved again

The wind of change should be blowing by again...

Sky...

  Sky: by courtesy of Samiirah

                            

                                                   

                               

                                The dawn of Life starts with a pink innocent sky

                                        

                                         The world is gently waking up…

                The sun brings in golden shade and the sea brings in its blueness;

                                  This morning, the happy birds swing up;

                                      The sky’s limit is beyond their nests…

                 The plane cruises over unknown destination, through a blue sky;

                             Skies of blue shining in dreamy blue eyes;

                     Dreams of Life shining through endless colourful skies…

                                                               *  *  *

Chayote trellises...

I often come across cropping patterns or certain agricultural practices that strike me.  We are all familiar with crops being sown on the ground.  What happens when space is a limiting factor or the farmer is a dreamy fellow?

Something like the picture here stands out from the crowd...

This is a man-made "treliss" made out of old pvc pipes and wooden poles to support a chayote vine.

Pretty isn't it?  Lost in the middle of nowhere, it is set against a bamboo hedging and a row of plants that look like vetiver.

Chayote (Sechium edule) is conventionally grown on the ground where it is allowed to extend its vines and heart shaped leaves.  It can also be tamed to grow upright along trelisses, as shown above.  In Mauritius, the Sechium edule plant is treasured for:

• Its fruit; the chayote locally known as chouchou, 
• the leaves which serve to make the traditional brede-chouchou and finally
•  its root which are lesser known but once popular in ancestral times; cambarre chouchou

WEB 2.0 LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: MY EXPERIENCE

The Web 2.0 Learning Opportunity, an initiative offered by the CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Competition) was run at the Faculty of Agriculture from the 9th-27th of July, in Mauritius. This was possible with close collaboration between FoA, CTA and the Food and Agricultural Research Council (FARC).

   I was lucky to be part of the trainees selected for this training session.  Classes usually combined interactive activities like meta cards which were stuck on the walls (see picture above), hands on practicals after theory lessons, democracy walls where we could express our feelings openly after the day, nice short videos and delightfully jovial and patient trainers.

My personal experiences after following this session are a mix of professional tips that I have acquired but also nice moments that boosted my spirit up.  Basically the training helped:

• To learn about the use of Web 2.0. Tools (Google Docs, RSS Feeds, Google Maps, Skype, LinkedIn,  Wikis, Blogging, Twitter, Facebook,...)
• To use Web 2.0 tool for educational/work purposes related to Agriculture.Here for example, we learnt how we could subscribe to feeds related to our field of specializations such as latest crop/animal research, pest or disease outbreaks in Agriculture, etc, and thus get updates.  We also learnt how to collaborate on wikis and share our ideas.
• Learn about the Informal Learning Process and take a break from work routines!

A big word of thanks for CTA, FoA and the trainers who helped to disseminate Web 2.0. Tools amidst agricultural specialists.