Agriculture
Agriculture
With the sustainability of the school project in mind, ADH as undertaken an agricultural project. Income from the agriculture should contribute long-term to finance the school operations. Currently domestic agricultural products are grown on a total area of 10 hectares and are sold at local markets. This helps the food-poor region and creates new jobs. The agricultural project also provides opportunities to involve the local community with the school project and teaches them to take personal responsibility for the school in Mushapo. The professional cultivation can also serve in the future for practical training.
Nov
2020
Donation of seeds for 1000 acacia trees for the outer borders of our property in Mabala
A local organization, PIREDD, supported by the World Bank, has seen the potential of our land and donated 1,100 seedlings for a palm oil plantation. And when they saw how capable our agronom and school director Philemon handled this project, they offered another 1,000 acacia tree seedlings to be planted around the borders of our property.
Jul
2020
Expansion of our agricultural project to include a palm oil plantation thanks to the UNO support programme
PIREDD, part of the “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation” project, a UN supported program, saw the potential the potential of our agricultural project with an area of 40 hectares of land. Through this support program, the "Agro-Veterinary School ITAV ADH Mabala" was sponsored 1100 palm nuts, which will grow into seedlings and be planted on 7 hectares of our property. Our teachers and students will have to take care of this palm oil plantation, planting, watering etc. Agronom and school director Philemon started a little nursery with his helpers for growing the seedlings. The proceeds from the sale of the products belong to the school and should help to support it in the future.
May
2020
Agricultural project in Mabala contributes to school maintenance
In order to improve the teachers' salaries, we started an agricultural project around the school buildings, which so far works better than the previous such programmes, as in Mushapo. Thanks to our headmaster, the excellent agronomist Philemon, the agricultural project is making good progress. He also initiated a small chicken and rabbit farm, which now has 43 chickens and 4 rabbits. As the photo shows, our chickens and rabbits were regularly fed by our students before the "lockdown" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dec
2019
Good harvest in the supported micro-farming project of Jean
On the Plateau de Bateke, east of Kinshasa, Ing. Jean was able to bring in a good cassava harvest for the agricultural microfinance project we started with him last year. From the proceeds of the harvest, Jean was able to fully pay the expenses for the seeds advanced by ADH.
Nov
2019
Agricultural project in Mabala brings first field yields
After sowing several crops, the students harvested in November a large quantity of vegetables that the school sold to various mothers who sell it further to gain some support for the school. This is a dream come true: agriculture as sustainable development from which everyone benefits. It creates jobs and support for mothers and their families as well as training for the students and income for the school. Our goal is to expand this development to achieve more independence for the school.
Jul
2019
Maize Multiplication Project
To help the poor farmers in the surrounding villages of the Kutu region, we are encouraging maize plantations. You may remember that we brought 500 kg of maize to Mabala 2 years ago. It took a long time for this project to take root, but after we offered the farmers to buy the maize from them, they were encouraged to grow more. Now they even sell the maize to traders who ship it to Kinshasa and sell it there. We hired agronomist Alain, a young, energetic farmer, to oversee this project. We also gave him money to collect the first 5 tons of maize and bring them to the Fimi River. From there it goes via the Kasai River to the Congo River until Kinshasa, where BBK members will sell it and use the income to support the school. All this is still a pioneer effort and we will have to see how it works out.
Jun
2019
Jean’s Agricultural Project
Last year we launched our first Micro Financing Project. We gave a loan to Jean so he could plant sweet potatoes and manioc in the Plateau de Bateke, east of Kinshasa. Here is his report: “The microfinance project received from A.D.H. is a blessing despite some difficulties encountered in the first year. With the results we were able to buy 5 ha of land where we will plant sweet potatoes in September, to be harvested in January 2020.”
Apr
2018
Our Agricultural Project Gets an Expert Supervisor
Jean met up with Ing. Philemon who will be in charge of our agricultural project in Mabala. Both of them studied agronomy together many years ago. They visited the Isaka area where most of the farmers planted the maize seeds we brought to Nioki last year.
