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Newsletter
February 2006
• Welcome Message
• Cottoning on to Organic Practices
• Teach a Man to Fish - Making Friends in High Places
• The Buzz about Bee-Keeping
• Fun Fundraising
• Spreading the Word
• Send to a Friend
Welcome Message
The
last three months seem to have flown by faster than ever,
so welcome again to another edition of the quarterly TeachAManToFish
e-bulletin.
We've been traveling
the world and, as you'll read in this issue, our efforts to
find and promote workable approaches to financing vocational
education through agricultural production are sparking interest
in the highest places.
From organic cotton
farming techniques that are financially as well as environmentally
positive, to managing a school's first steps down the road
to economic sustainability, we hope you'll find this quarter's
newsletter a riveting read - and one worth telling your colleagues
all about!
Cottoning
on to Organic Practices
The environment is arguably mankind’s most important
asset. So when it comes to putting agricultural education
on a financially sustainable footing, it’s heartening
to know that there are solid economic as well as environmental
reasons for following organic practices.
Students at the St. Francis de Assisi Agricultural School
in Paraguay have been finding out how they can substantially
increase farm income from cotton by using natural methods
for pest control, instead of the expensive, and very toxic,
chemical pesticides commonly used.
Such money-saving techniques are not only
helping their school to become financially self-sufficient,
but can also help poor farmers as much as double their annual
income from this important cash crop.
In Paraguay, cotton is a key cash crop for poor farmers, and
typically brings in more than half of their annual cash income.
In a moderately good year, a farmer with two hectares of cotton
can expect to sell his crop for about $700. However, the farmer
may have spent up to $350 on chemical pesticides, thereby
cutting his net income in half, while contaminating his land
and neighboring rivers and streams. Meanwhile, without a continuous
effort to maintain soil quality, annual yields decline.
How do students at the St. Francis of Assisi
Agricultural High School avoid these problems? Organically.
For example, they control one of cotton’s most damaging
pests, the cotton leaf worm, by cutting out chemical pesticides
and allowing wasps, the worm’s natural predators, to
flourish. Cotton is also interplanted with other species of
plants that pests find more desirable, and organic pesticides
made from farm by-products applied, such as cow urine.
The result? A similar crop yield, yet by
cutting out the substantial costs of chemical pesticides,
twice the regular income.
Meanwhile, students learn to improve soil
quality by incorporating compost and plowing under nitrogen-rich
cover crops, so that in the future, crop yields will increase.
Cutting costs and increasing production
through organic farming? “Absolutely,” says Adolfino
Acosta, head of agricultural production at the St. Francis
de Assisi Agricultural School. “We have to educate our
farmers to think sustainably and make good business decisions.”
Teach A Man
To Fish– Making Friends in High Places!
Executive director Dr Martin Burt is fresh
back from promoting the TeachAManToFish
paradigm on the global stage.
 As
an invitee of the World Economic Forum – an annual gathering
in Davos, Switzerland, of the world’s business, political,
and social leaders – Martin seized the opportunity to
spread the word amongst some highly influential people about
our pioneering approach to financing education.
One of the notable figures impressed with
this model’s potential was Mrs. Zanele Mbeki, the First
Lady of South Africa. She was particularly struck by the benefits
such a system could offer to poor students lacking the resources
to enroll in private agricultural colleges. There are clear
resonances in South Africa between our model, and that used
by the world renowned CIDA University. This unique university
in Johannesburg offers free education to disadvantaged students,
yet obtains excellent academic results, as well as keeping
costs to a minimum by the letting the students run many functions
themselves.
Building upon the success
of their urban program, the challenge of taking higher and
vocational education to rural areas may well be one we can
tackle together.
The Buzz
about Bee-Keeping
Making the transition from an educational
institution limited by funding constraints, to one that can
generate substantial income of its own, can seem a daunting
prospect to the typical agricultural college.
The reality is that it doesn’t have
to be an all-or-nothing choice. It makes sense to trial the
new approach in a limited way - and then build upon these
foundations one brick at a time.
Taking the time to experiment with what
works, and what doesn’t, gives both teachers and students
space to explore their entrepreneurial talent in a relatively
low risk environment. It also allows the institution time
to put in place, and bed-down, any additional financial controls
and management information systems that might be needed.
So where to start?...
...There’s Money in Honey!
When it comes to finding an ideal starter project bee-keeping
ticks all the boxes.
- Relatively low start up costs
- Low maintenance requirement
- Low space requirement
- Applicable to a wide range of environments
- High value product which self-finances quickly
Part of the reason why honey often attracts
such a good price in developing countries is that bee-keeping
is an activity where a solid education – both theoretical
and practical - makes all the difference.
Untrained or poorly trained bee-keepers
are much more likely either to lose their bees, or suffer
low yields than well trained ones. This not only makes relatively
easier for schools to earn a good income from bee-keeping,
but also allow them to assess just how effective their teaching
practices really are, improving them where necessary.
For schools looking to improve their
finances through ‘productive education’, it’s
certainly an activity they should bee looking at!
Fun Fundraising
 Taking
advantage of the introduction of eBay for Charity in the UK,
TeachAManToFish
launched this February the great Cyberspace
Charity Car Boot Sale – a fundraising drive in which
supporters can sell unwanted items online with sale proceeds
going directly to charity.
With visitors now able to make
credit card donations directly through the TeachAManToFish
website, we’re looking forward in 2006 to being able
to put even more resources into supporting income generating
activities at partner institutions.
Keep Spreading
the Word
Keeping you informed of developments in
this arena, and providing a quality service to our members,
requires a constant need to expand our network.
We need to find schools already funding
elements their work through sale of school products, and those
that are prepared to experiment with this approach –
and we need your help to spread the word!
Although the internet has created unrivalled
possibilities for agricultural schools across developing countries
to share their experiences, finding these schools and putting
them in contact with each other is no simple task.
If you have any connections with agricultural
schools that might be interested in our network please make
sure you get
in touch!
Send to a Friend
Hopefully this newsletter has given a glimpse
of how schools can deliver an excellent education and generate
income to support their work.
If you know someone who you think might
be interested in our organisation, why not let them know about
us?
It couldn’t be easier –
just click
here!
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