The last few days have been incredibly eventful. As per usual, we went to Bois Jolie to continue our study on Friday and spent that night at the local school. If I thought we were working efficiently last week, this week’s operation blew that out of the water. We all (Sewanee and CFFL students) went… more →
Evening. At the Zanmi Lasante Orphanage. Cange, Haiti. May, 2015 [photo: Pradip Malde] Today we, Zamni Foto and Zamni Kafe teams, returned from our weekly overnight in Bois Jolie, Haiti. It was a very good trip. It was good because both groups completed a large amount of work. However, what I found more interesting happened… more →
Zanmi Kafe began in 2013 with the basis of the project being rooted in Payments for Ecosystem Services through carbon credits. One village, Bois Jolie, was chosen due to its ideal elevation for growing coffee. Professor Deborah McGrath began designing this agroforestry project to improve livelihoods and foster community and economic development in 2012, and… more →
Watson listening to music on his cellphone. Dusk. Bois Jolie, Haiti. May, 2015. [photo: Pradip Malde] When one is inundated in an alien situation it seems that the mind attempts to categorize the situation in terms of similarities and dissimilarities, the good and the bad, what is acceptable and what is not, etc. In my experience… more →
We returned from our second overnight excursion to Bois Jolie yesterday, which went much better than the previous week’s work. Our first run last week didn’t go badly, but field work always needs tweaking. A clean-cut methodology written in advance rarely works out the way you expect. With a few modifications to our methods, mainly… more →
Ben McKenzie and Pierre Wakenfort assessing photosynthesis rates, Bois Jolie, Haiti. May, 2015. Zanmi Kafe interns Ben McKenzie and Pierre Wakenfort practice using the Licor 6400 to measure photosynthesis in a farmer’s field of corn and beans. These sun-loving annual plants capture carbon at a rate of 20 umol/m2/sec in full sun! The sophisticated 40-lb instrument… more →
Mary Margaret Johnson (Zanmi Foto) discussing Scott Summer’s biodiversity analysis of the Zanmi Kafe project. Zanmi Lasante, Cange, Haiti. May 2015. Scott and Geanina Fripp are identifying different species of ants and other insects to characterize the community of invertebrates available to defend the coffee seedlings against predators and pests. [photo: Pradip Malde]
Farmers of Morne Michelle planting seeds for a nursery which may be modeled on the Zanmi Kafe Project. Morne Michelle, Haiti. May 27, 2015 [Photo: Hunter Swenson] Today we (Geanina Fripp, Hunter Swenson, Peter Davis, and Scott Summers, and myself) experienced a new aspect of Haitian community life. A group of Zanmi Kafe and Zanmi… more →
Zanmi Kafe- Sustainable Agroforestry and Payments for Ecosystem Services in Haiti Zanmi Kafe (Partners in Coffee) represents a collaborative effort between Sewanee, the NGOs Partners in Health and Partners in Agriculture, and farmers to establish diverse and more sustainable tree-based agroecosystems in the deforested central plateau region of Haiti through the reintroduction of shade-grown coffee.… more →
This photograph was taken on the first day at the Bois Joli nursery, where shade trees were given the Zanmi Kafe farmers. There were mango trees, along with several other species, which will provide the cover necessary to sustain a successful coffee crop on the mountaintop. Several farmers here are lined up waiting for… more →