Sharing Hope International - Drip Irrigation & Horticulture Production in Southern Madagascar

Drip Irrigation & Horticulture Production in Southern Madagascar

Program Background

Manasoa Bible School buildings

Manasoa was the first ‘mission station’ of the American Lutheran (Lutheran Free Church) working in Southern Madagascar. The Manasoa local language Bible School trains about 20 men and women students in a 2-year program each year. Upon graduating, they return to home churches and work as self-supporting pastors and evangelists in their villages. The Malagasy Lutheran Church wholly deeds the land surrounding the small village of Manasoa as well as the grounds of the Bible School. The Bible School is extremely under funded, within the poorest and most famine prone region of the country. About 70% of Madagascar’s people earn less than $1/day.

Within this arid region, the campus site is unusual in having its own spring providing a regular flow of water throughout the year. Much of this water is wasted, simply flowing into and along the surface of the ground, where it serves for human and animal consumption, and surface irrigates some land. For example, it helps irrigate rice fields for the village of Fanjahira about 1 kilometer below Manasoa. The school property of about 100 hectares has land sufficient to irrigate between 25-50 hectares.

Campus spring

Capturing this spring more efficiently would help to improve the hygiene of the water used for human consumption, create livestock watering points, as well as provide the means of growing high-value horticulture crops for sale and consumption. Intensive agricultural systems would focus on beans, lentils, various root crops, spinach, many kinds of Malagasy greens, including watercress, beets, as well as leeks, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, onions, garlic, squashes, and fruit (mangoes, bananas, papaya, citrus). The use of greenhouses will be explored for some of the production of horticulture crops. Income earned would provide a greatly needed source of support funding for the Bible School, while part would be used to maintain the systems put into place. Students would learn skills they can use to help support themselves in their future ministries within the region and country. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20). This project will help further this goal.

Irrigated field

Our attention was drawn to Manasoa through the efforts of Dr. Stan and Kathy Quanbeck, long-term medical missionaries with Lutheran medical teams in Madagascar. This was followed up with a subsequent area visit in 2006 by Lutheran missionary Pat Bensen to assess the current situation there. This initial positive assessment has led Sharing Hope to define a strategic approach with the following future steps:

(1) Travel to Madagascar by two Sharing Hope volunteers, for 10 days, to verify information received, and complete a detailed project document, with budget. This study would include identification of specific high-value crops that would have the best markets within the region, and cost-benefit analysis linked to producing and getting these crops to the market. The study would also look into the implications of capturing water for site greenhouses and drip irrigation systems proposed on downstream communities currently using the existing water flow.

(1) Initiate implementation of project by end of 2007
(2) Immediately seek funding for (1) above, and begin to initiate funding drive and efforts for (2).

School director Pastor Raphael Remi and his wife Moa Philemone in front of the school clinic with their children

Initial Objective Targets:

(1) Project Design and Networking in Manasoa and surrounding communities: $6,000.
(2) Travel and Living Support for two North American Volunteers to Site: $6,000
(3) Revolving Fund for Purchase of Project Supplies: Initial Start-Up Goal: $50,000

Volunteers Needed! What you could do?

Fishpond on school grounds

· Provide basic health care training out of clinic
· Assist in creating water tower for drip irrigation system
· Provide training in use and maintenance of drip irrigation system
· Financial management & accounting/purchasing and sales monitoring
· Financial support for activities listed above
· Prayer support for Sharing Hope and Manasoa Bible School leaders as we seek wisdom in these tasks.

* Fourth largest island in the world, Madagascar, about 400 miles off the east coast of Southern Africa, is about 1000 miles long and 250 miles wide. It is populated with some 15 million people of Indonesian and African descent. Manasoa is located at about the center of the island to the east of Toliara in the South. The red spots on the map represent national parks and reserves of the country. It is said that 75 % of all flora and fauna life exists nowhere else in the world- a truly unique place to visit. Forested areas are represented along the eastern coast in green, while most of west and south are arid.