The training was in Mbanding which is about 30km away from Kedougou next to Ibel. what we were teaching was the technique of top working. What that means, is basically lopping all of the branches off a large developed mango tree or any number of other fruit trees during the dry season with the aim to graft a more desirable scion onto the new sprouts that will then grow out of where the large branches were later in the year. Since you cant graft onto anything much bigger than a thick pencil, this is the only way to introduce a desired scion onto a the large tree without grafting hundreds of if not thousands of branches.
That is basically what grafting is in a nutshell. You usually graft young trees, as they are no thicker than a thick pencil, with scions from a tree that has larger fruit, is more hardy in terms of resistance to disease, or has some other desirable trait that your current tree lacks. You make a small diagonal cut through all the layers of tissue of the mango branch and insert the scion and then wrap up the whole thing with plastic and wait for the scion to take and sprout! Thats grafting in a nut shell in its simplest form, the tongue and groove method.
So basically you lop off all the large branches and wait! We covered the lopping and pruning aspects of the equation today with a group of farmers who had previously attended one of the grafting trainings that we host every year. The idea being that we are training up a group of so to speak 'advanced' tree farmers to be resources for the farmers in the region without the input of Peace Corps. Have to have an exit strategy right! In that vein we have been using locals as the facilitators for most of the trainings that weve been hosting. Its one thing hearing how to do something technical from a random white guy thats been in africa a fraction of the local farmers life time and a completely different thing to hear it from another local that is an expert in the field. Thats all mental, im not even going to start with how much easier it is for Karumba, our trainer, to explain something in one of his native tongues! Lets just say my pulaar leaves alot to be desired!
We had about 8-10 farmers at the training and most had worked with Peace Corps in some capacity in the past. Most already knew how to graft, plant fruit trees, and manage an orchard. They came from about 5 different villages from around the area and were all very enthusiastic for the training. We started off with a basic pruning demonstration as most local farmers have this extreme dislike of cutting off branches from their trees! Its because they see that as a potential source of fruit even though its competing with the tree as a whole and in the end weakening the fruit output.
After this we moved onto the actual top working. The reason we started with the pruning is that even while we were doing the top working it was necessary to prune down the trees to the appropriate size and number of main branches. Then we instructed them on how to correctly lop off the branches so the cut wasn't open to the sun. All in all it didnt take that long and we were able to practice a couple times with Karumba Frank and myself helping and then a couple times with the participants doing it by themselves.
While the participants were doing the analyzing and lopping by themselves, Karumba, Frank and myself were able to tour through the field we were having the training in. It was a great field! Its owned by a guy called Mangajan Diallo. Mangajan is one of the true remarkable cases for a Peace Corps volunteer to come across. He is soooo ready to do whatever you tell him in regards to techniques and new ways of farming or managing his trees. It was in another one of his fields that we had the grafting training earlier this year for this area of Kedougou. Most folk would look aghast at the suggestion of cutting off lots of branches from their fruit trees, almost as if you had asked them to give up their first born child! Its truly bizarre and wonderful that he is so willing to do the right things in regards to managing his orchard. While he has lots of work left to turn his field into a beautiful demonstration field, this particular gentleman i have complete faith in!
After touring his field, and with the participants having finished up their solo lopping, we all sat back down under the four large mango trees that create an almost cave like feel to discuss what all we had learned today. One of the farmers from mbanding gave a great summary of what all we had talked about and how it should be implemented in his field. After this Karumba, whos main work is with planting living fences, gave his boilerplate talk on live fencing adn how if your field isnt well protected all that hard work you just put in for grafting or plowing or whatever you do in your field is for nothing. There was a few guys there who are working with Karumba and I on live fencing and chimed in echoing what Karumba had said. Thats another part of Senegalese meetings, theres lots of echoing. Everyone has to throw their 2cents in even if it agreeing and repeating what the guy before them has said! It gets old but this time wasnt terribly bad.
Before we closed out the session Frank and I spoke a bit about what we were trying to accomplish with the training. Our goal was to create a network of advanced tree farmers in the region that act as local relais for tree work in their particular sub region or zone. We are trying to compile lists of advanced farmers throughout the region and keep them on record in the regional capital at the Peace Corps house for future volunteers to utilize. We also talked about how we have come up with a yearly schedule that has all the different seminars and trainings we would like to host in conjunction with these advanced farmers. Top working and pruning was the first of year and goes from seed collection to tree nursery creation all the way to out planting and plant protection. Everyone seemed interested and only time will tell how well our new approach to tree work in the region will pan out!
After this it was getting towards the hot part of the day and i had to get going as I had biked out from Kedougou in the morning and didn't fancy slogging through the midday heat to get back. We all say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. Franks village was only a few kilometeres away so he didn't have terribly far to go and most the farmers were in the same boat. I was the only one with a relatively long distance to go. I take off and immediately realize that theres no way I wont be biking through the hottest part of the day and will just have to bite the bullet about that. I had to stop a couple times along the way as I had noticed some thorny trees that I wanted to get pictures of as i thought they would be great for live fencing. As it turns out, 2 of the 5 species that I spotted on the way out I knew pretty much on site and the others i have a pretty good idea what they were! What that means is that there are literally hundreds of these trees along the road and a plethora of seed sources for us.
Finding the trees was a great mood booster for a very hot bike ride. And here is where the title comes from! I had about 2/3rds a liter and a quarter bottle of water left for the ride and it was cooked by the time I was ready to drink it! While being in america, you forget about that. Water gets hot fast while your'e biking along, and by the time im usually ready to drink it just doesn't matter! Hot water is water! Its really weird drinking down hot water in the blazing sun but you need fluids. So hence delicious refreshing hot water!
The second part of the title comes from the fact that lots of the mango trees here are starting to flower. Now the mango flower isn't really a flower in the sense of a rose or dog wood bloom or something like that you might. The blooms are rather odd looking. Almost tentacle like. The best part about them is the smell! While biking through a couple villages, the road is lined with mango trees and with most in bloom, you end up getting a blast of fruity perfume as you ride under their overstretched arms. So not only do you get to ride in shade, its wonderful smelling shade! You don't even notice the little children yelling toubob give me a present.
That bring us up to the right now, what else is going on in my life at the moment........? Well i was out in Dindefelo to check up on my project there and to see what all need to happen to get things running smoothly there. Looking to get the well digger going at the well again and blasting through the rock thats blocking the second well with a jackhammer that someone in town has. Basins and garden beds are the next step after that, so im looking to get those couple things going so my work there can begin in earnest. Thats the project I extended to work on after all!
I'm biking out to Kafori tomorrow to check out the progress with Kevin's case de santé. I had a meeting with the mason who that is in charge of the work and he said that everything was about done, just need one of the last installments of cash to get more materials. But ill be meeting with the mason and the president of the community rural tomorrow while im out there to hash out whats left and when it'll be done. So thats potentially exciting that that project could be done soon.
So thats about all I have for now. Im off to Kolda for xmas and the new year. I'll have more for you all than.
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