Reconnecting social and earthly ties through agroecology.
18 local entrepreneurs, all originating from the southern region of the island, received a training in agroecological farming practices at Bel Ombre last week. Launched by Agrïa and financed by Heritage Villas Valriche, this professional training project named “Zero Kilometer” aims at ensuring the development of sustainable agriculture through education, empowerment, and job creation.
With the professional guidance and support of the Reunionese agricultural training institute FORMA’TERRA, the trainees were able to lay out two vegetable gardens of 540m2 each, in record time. They will now start the third phase of a three-month professional training in Sustainable Tropical Agriculture which will be provided jointly by FORMA’TERRA from Reunion Island, the Robert Antoine Training Centre (RTC) and the Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture. These professional workshops will be spread over three modules totalling 114 hours of learning and practice.
"This initiative is part of a programme meant to inspire sustainable entrepreneurship, materialise our farm-to-fork ambitions, and develop a circular economy in the Bel Ombre region," Thierry Sauzier, Chief Executive Officer of Agrïa, explains.
“All the harvests produced, during and after this training, will be bought and used by the hotels of Heritage Resorts. The goal is to be able to assure visitors that the food presented on their plates comes from the hard work of trained people from neighbouring regions, who thus benefit from their contribution to the life and economy of the country", he continues.
“Conventional agriculture: not a sustainable option anymore”
“From the food and drinks we consume to the rivers and lagoons we bath in, there is an ever-growing demand for healthier alternatives.” Didier Ramay, Professor of Agronomy at FORMA’TERRA, Reunion Island, is a firm believer that conventional agriculture is not a sustainable option anymore. According to him, industrial agriculture exerts an unbearable amount of pressure on our ecosystems.
From his perspective, the intensive use of chemicals like phosphorus and potassium, which are both mined and imported, contribute not only to a carbon-heavy footprint but also to the impoverishment of the soil and serious health issues for the consumers. According to Worldometers’ latest statistics, Mauritius ranked 91st out of 160 countries in terms of pesticide use with 770.53 tons applied in 2017 only. The same year, the country also deployed 9.8Kg of pesticide per Hectare of Cropland, ranking No.18 in this category.
“There is a societal awakening regarding conventional agriculture and its intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers which leads to diseases, cancers, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Agroecology is capable not only of reducing our dependence on chemicals but also on our imports when a disaster cuts us off from the rest of the world,” he claims.
Beyond being a set of practices and techniques derived from traditional knowledge and improved by agronomic science, agroecology aims at nurturing the soil and the “invisible” biodiversity it shelters notably through the reintroduction of organic material.
“The concept is to use everything the immediate environment has to offer to produce crops in an efficient, sustainable and healthy way,” Didier Ramay continues. “Look at any untouched forest area, it just thrives. It is very productive, never gets sick and knows when to renew itself. There are priceless lessons to be learnt from Nature: ecosystems know how to regulate and protect themselves. Our mission, with agroecology, is to take these learnings from Nature and apply them in crop fields,” he adds.
The third and final phase of the “Zero Kilometer” project will consist of learning all the aspects of Troubleshooting the Vegetable Gardens. The 18 Mauritian entrepreneurs will need to grasp and apply their newly acquired knowledge daily to ensure both kitchen gardens keep thriving until FORMA’TERRA’s next visit on the island in November.
