Thanks also for the mention of ToughStuff here. We appreciate it. And we couldn’t agree more – organizations like One Acre Fund are in the perfect position to distribute products directly to the homes of those using kerosene every night. Keep it up from ToughStuff Kenya.

I’m wondering what some of the more innovative global agricultural groups or innovators are coming up with these days? Even in USA, in past decade(s) more and more “traditional farmers” with undergraduate and graduate degrees from the US land grant college system have been moving to “greener” methods, growing and marketing organic crops for a marketplace that is hungry for this output. This and growing non-mainstream “specialty” crops for outlets like Whole Foods has been a way of survival for smaller farmers who began having trouble making profits in recent times. If I’m not mistaken, this has become a respected niche in the US “ag world” and is talked about in publications that cater to farmers here and overseas.

On a larger scale, organizations like FAO,the Millenium Development project folks (Jeffrey Sachs et al), even USDA’s FAS must also be looking at this, and devoting time and resources to problem solving in this area. (If not, should be!)

So, I wonder: is there a way to get a private, if not public, dialogue going on this vis a vis One Acre farmers’ specific challenges? Then, given a developed sense of the problems and potential solutions, are there enlightened agronomy students (or even FFA or 4H kids) who’d want to help raise resources and funds/partnerships to help implement some innovative practices? Perhaps rural USA church groups or Rotaries could coordinate with One Acre and local universities to organize teams of helpers as an ongoing effort? The convergence here would be a segment of the US population that loves to innovate, is well-educated in agricultural science and practices, but also has a strong track record for supporting humanitarian efforts to end hunger/help third world farmers.

In any case, I am pleased to see this subject raised. The answers to these questions must be “out there” –if not already developed, in the process of being invented. I am recalling a CARE conference some years ago in which the problem of how to boil water without using precious organic matter (wood, etc) for fuel was brought up. A scientist in the audience popped up who was working on exactly that problem.

So, perhaps the same will be true of this problem. I do run into people all the time who are working on some aspect or another of the global hunger issue –even people who are collecting and banking “heritage seed” in Africa…which always makes me wonder if there aren’t agronomists or other ag scientists — or innovation-loving ag foundations — who might experiment with that: development of improved indigenous seed for our emerging farmers,who might then benefit from naturally disease and drought resistant strains as well as from a new global niche market for these unique “heritage harvests”?

We live in a fascinating world…if we can only link available resources to problems and their solutions, miracles can happen. One Acre is already one such miracle, but I like this blog, because it reminds me that one miracle often hatches five more!

“Dominic Wanjihja, who taught them how to set up drip irrigation, also designed an easy planting tool, a hollow plastic pipe with a recycled yoghurt pot tied to the top and a stick tied to the bottom. The stick is jabbed into the ground to make a hole and several seeds from the pot are dropped down the pipe, allowing planting without stooping.”

This looks as simple as it can get. Maybe there’s need to look into the other requirements: add fertilizer but not close to the seed. And maybe, I don’t know, even add some extra water after planting?

Two extra notes:
- same content over here: http://org-observers.france24.com/en/content/20081020-farming-innovations-slum-kenya-biological-farm
- maybe some inspiration here: http://www.allsun.com.au/Seeders.html

I recall seeing … here it is: http://www.afrigadget.com/2008/09/04/innovations-in-a-slum-kibera-case-study/ “Check out the planting implements, a PVC Pipe adapted to deliver seeds into a perfectly dug hole! This was invented to help with the back breaking work of planting.” (See the photo above that text.)

I recall seeing a better photo somewhere, but that’s the idea.

Maybe this: http://thinmac.wordpress.com/a-homemade-seed-planter/

But I recall something even simpler!