In the Southern province of Zambia, there is an extended dry season (several months of no rain, followed by a few months of very heavy rainfall. Trying to grow moringa as a nutrition assist. Protecting from drought and flood, as well as termites is key! I was thinking of using tithonia and arachis pintoi around the trees for a few reasons. Cattle are left to forage without fences and keeping cattle away from the new trees will be difficult. Both Tithonia and the arachis pintoi. Provide distracting cattle forage and edible crops for people as well as insect control with the fermented tithonia biomass. The fertilizer aspect is also important. Does anyone have a better idea of a plant species to assist in nutrition, provide fertilizer, insect control and won’t harm cattle.
Would appreciate any feedback regarding aspects of these plants or others that might serve the community better . Thanks!
Hi, we are in Malawi. We don’t use the Asian Moringa and use the African one. There are hundreds of indigenous species from all the food groups for food all year. We feed our termites a lot. Termites like dead or dying things as food, they attack foreign things more often than healthy indigenous species. We use a lot of mulch everywhere and have tons of termites that appear happy making us soil.
People managing their livestock is a tough one. We use trained dogs - takes time - and they are scared of some of the pigs! But the best is community discussion and agreements on where to let animals roam and where not, making sure that children aren’t diverted from school to watch animals. Lots of things to think about but solutions do abound.
Thanks for your ideas!!! How do you ID if you have African vs the Asian Moninga?!? My plan is to plant a moringa grove near (but not near enough for root issues) the borehole at each clinic so water won’t be an issue.
I’m hoping the mothers and babies will use it for supplemental nutrition.
The children watching the livestock instead of going to school is very much an issue here. Thinking of ways to tackle that as well.
Have an awesome day!
In terms of termite protection, this seems to work and is rather simple.
Hi Lori, I missed your reply - I asked around in our community in Malawi. Asian Moringa grows tall and straight with smaller leaves. African Moringa (Moringa stenopetala) grows more windy and interesting in my opinion, with larger leaves. There are hundreds of options, what we do with the Sustainable Nutrition Manual is work with communities to see what they have first, multiply and increase what is needed to restore balanced, then communities help each other in seed swaps to diversify and expand.
Click through my profile to access the free Sustainable Nutrition Manual or look in (Human Nutrition Discussion) or in the resource section here.