African Sky Project Reports

Moringa in the North

Project Director

Sarah Mangrem and Kate Lechner, Peace Corps Volunteer

Project Number	Total Cost (US$)	Location
FS01-PC-09	$215.00	Gargouna, Mali

Project Details

Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing, leafy tree native to India. It has been planted around the world and has successfully improved the diet in many cultures. Moringa trees are particularly useful in the dry climate in the north of Mali. They require little water, enjoy the sun, grow quickly, and the nutrient-rich leaves are a good supplement to the available diet, which lacks fruit and vegetables (protection foods). We like working with moringa because you see results quickly and the Koyra Borey in general are keen on trees. Further, the "windi bundu", as it is known in Niger, is already accepted into the diet of the Zarmey, so the Koyra Borey are more receptive to adopt it.

Talking about Moringa at site

Project Reports
• Education
• Food Security
• Community Arts
• Community Health
• Past Projects

Vitaminey ga hanse ka booboo a ra.	Moringa is extremely nutrient-rich.
Vitamino kaŋ ga kuuri noo saŋa go fitawey ra. Guuru dumo kaŋ anasarey ga nee « fer ».	The moringa is a good source of iron, to prevent anemia.
Moringa fitawey ga boro gahaamo sutura/halaši.	Moringa leaves are a protection food. (They help prevent illness).
Moringa tuurey ga cahaŋ ka zee.	Moringa trees grow fast.
Moringa tuuro ti tuuro kaŋ Zarmey ga nee "windi bundu". Zarmey borey ga hanse ka baa nga maafa	The Zarmey people (of Northern Niger) call moringa "windi bundu". The Zarmey love moringa sauce on their rice and shaved manioc.
Moringa fitawey ga ni ŋaayan nafandi.	Moringa leaves increase the nutritional value of your diet.

When to plant
With enough attention it is possible to plant moringa at any point in the year. However, ideally you would plant moringa during the gardening season, from November thru February.

March-June: hot weather and hot wind
July-August: rainy and hot
September-October: locusts and hot wind
November-February: cooler weather, locusts have gone

Starting in November—once the farmers have said that the locusts are almost done ("ndoa ga baa ka ben")—gives your trees the best shot at life. Four months of cooler weather, less threat from insects, time to grow strong before the hot winds and sun, time to send roots deep to seek water. An additional benefit of planting in November is that by the time hungry season arrives (peaking in Sept-Nov) there will be a good store of dry leaves to supplement the traditional diet.

Pepinière
Starting a pepinière is how we recommend working with moringa. It is easier to protect and care for the baby trees in a pepinière than those which have been direct seeded.

Kate has had a lot of success with a pepinière in her sala?a (outdoor bathroom); this has come to be affectionately known as a "nyegen nursery". The nyegen provides protection from animals, kids, and the hot winds, as well as offers both sun and shade. Your nyegen is a free piece of land which goats avoid, and your satala/plastic kettle acts as a perfect watering can.

Fill pepinière bags with rich soil (from the riverside, mixed with compost, or below the surface layer of sandy soil). Tap the bogs so that the soil settles to ½ inch-1 inch below the top of the bag.
Poke drainage holes into the bag on the bottom and in the lower half of the bag.
Soak the moringa seeds in water overnight.
Make an indentation in the center of the bag of soil up to the first knuckle of your index finger. Place 2 seeds in the hole. Cover loosely with soil.
Soak the soil with water being careful not to uncover the seeds. Water daily, or more frequently during hot season.
Protect seedlings from animals, hot wind, insects, Mali in general. We recommend using mud bricks, but have also seen: thorns, mosquito nets staked with tree branches, cardboard boxes with the bottoms cut out, old communal eating bowls with the bottoms cut out. If your pepinière is situated with a wall as protection on one or more sides (against a wall or in your nyegen). You can drive 2 nails into the wall and hang a mosquito net. Spread away from wall to cover bags and tuck under bags to ensure hungry bugs don't reach the moringas. As the trees grow, raise the net so it does not touch the trees.
Transplant the seedlings any time after they are a foot tall, or their trunks look woody. Prepare the planting site by digging a hole the size of a large bucket. Add rich soil (compost, river bed soil) to the hole if available, leaving room to add the tree and its soil. Add a bucket of water. Carefully cut the bag off by splitting the sides and removing the bottom. Introduce the tree, roots, and dirt in the hole IN TACT. Fill hole with rich soil leaving a recession the size of a communal eating bowl. (This serves to keep water from flowing away from the tree). Soak the soil.

Direct Seeding
With proper precautions to protect seedlings from animals and insects it is possible to direct seed moringa. However, we do not recommend it. We have no living moringas which were direct seeded. If you insist:

Prepare site by adding rich soil to where you will plant. This can be either compost, river bed soil, or the soil found by digging below the surface sand. After the rich soil is imported or reached the site should be dug out to the size and shape of a communal eating bowl. (This serves to keep water from flowing away from the tree).
Soak the moringa seeds in water overnight.
Soak the soil "bowl" with a bucket of water.
Make an indentation in the center of the bowl up to the 2nd knuckle of your index finger. Place 3 seeds in the hole.
Cover loosely with soil.
Soak the soil with a 2nd bucket of water. Water daily, or more frequently during hot season.
Protect the planting site from animals, kids, insects, wind, Mali.

Water
If you water your trees daily they will flourish, but once the trees are transplanted, or have reached 2 feet, they will survive with minimal or infrequent watering. It is best to water the plants in the late afternoon as less of the water will evaporate. Water your pepinière trees or direct seedlings daily, soaking the soil until the soil is saturated and can absorb no more water. During hot season—or if you see that your tree is withering—it may be necessary to also water early in the morning. If possible avoid watering during the heat of the day, which shocks the tree.

Protection
We highly recommend using mud bricks as protection. Why?

No need to cut down trees for thorns or poles
Fencing tends to "walk" (aka: get stolen)
Offers protection from animals
Cuts the hot Saharan breeze
Cheap (1 brick = 10xof; 50 bricks = 500xof = 1 tree)
Keeps the money in your village/provides jobs or an opportunity for community contribution

Pruning
Once the tree has reached 1meter you should begin to prune it. This will focus the tree's energy on growing bushy rather than tall. At the highest fork of the tree cut one inch below the split, removing the two topmost branches. To encourage the tree to grow more leaves, at the fork of each limb clip one inch after the fork on each branch, leaving two stubs on each limb which will sprout again. As soon as the tree has a few leaves—even in the pepinière stage—you can begin pruning the leaves. Make sure to leave a few stems of leaves at the top o the tree can continue to live! Remove leaves by taking the small stems/branches in your hand close to the trunk and pulling outwards gently. Remove leaves frequently so they don't fall on their own, wasting all those precious nutrients. When the tree matures and begins flowering, removing the flowers and seeds will focus the trees energy on leaf production.

Using leaves
Leaves can be eaten straight off the tree, fresh in salad or sauce, dried in sauce, or dried and pounded into a powder in your porridge or sauce.

If leaves will be eaten fresh the Peace Corps Medical Officer recommend soaking them in a solution of bleach water for 15 minutes then rinsing them in potable water. If leaves will be dried, this step may be skipped since the sauce or porridge will be boiled, thus killing any microbes.

Dry leaves by spreading them out flat on a sheet/taafa in the shade. It is very important not to dry the leaves in the sun as the sun breaks down the important vitamins and nutrients ("ma s'i kogandi wayna ra haya kanse wayna ga vitaminey wii"). After a few days the leaves will be dry to the touch, and crumble easily. Store dried leaves in an airtight container, they'll be good for years as long as water or bugs are kept out. Turn dried leaves into powder by pounding them with a mortar and pestle.

Supplies

WHAT	QUANTITY	PRICE	LOCATION	FRENCH	SONGHAI
IER Plastic bags*	100	2,000 cfa	House behind Télécentre	Les sacs	Kedesou, sac izey
Black plastic sheet	1 meter	< 400 cfa/m	1st road, Marché Washington	Le plastic	mana
Watering can	1-2 per nursery	2,500 cfa	Local market	L'arrosoir	Arrosoir izo
Well bag	1, if water source is a well	1,000 cfa	1ere guidron, Marché Washington	Le sac puiser de l'eau	aja
Rope	How deep is your well?	250 cfa/ m	market	La corde	Karfoo
Mosquito nets	1-2 per nursery	2,000 cfa	market	La moustiquaire	ncilla
Chicken wire	As needed	< 500 cfa/ m	Hardware store	Le grillage	Grillage katche
Nails	2	25 cfa	Hardware store	Le clou	Pointe
Seeds	1-2 per bag	2,000 cfa/kilo 2,000 cfa/.5 kilo	@ ICRISTAT Bamako @ IER Gao*	Les semances	Tuur'izey kan mana zay/ semanc'izey

* Mohamed at IER in Gao can order pre-made black plastic bags. If you have a little money this is the easiest option. It can take a couple days to receive your order. Mohamed is also the go-to guy for seeds.

Defined words
Dirt/du sol/labu- Gather dirt for your pepinière from the riverside if possible. This soil is rich in organic material. If it is not possible to gather dirt from the riverside, remove the top layers of sandy soil and gather the darker soil near your pepinière.

Bags/les sacs en plastique/sac izey- Any type of sturdy plastic bag can be used to pepinière: candy/dried fruit bags from care packages, empty yogurt or powered milk bags. Sheets of plastic can be bought in bulk in the Gao market. Turn this into bags by cutting it and melting the edges together (this can be time consuming and less effective than used bags or buying pre-made, but Malians tend to be better at this than volunteers. We recommend saving yourself the frustration and buy the bags premade).

Moringa Recipes
Hoy Ciiray Nafanta- Ameliorated red sauce, served over rice Ingredients: oil, meat or fish, salt, black pepper, garlic, onions, tomato paste, dried moringa leaves, rice.
Heat oil in sauce pot over fire or charcoal
Add meat/fish, a small amount of water, and salt to brown.
Pound black pepper, garlic, and onions with mortar and pestle, add to pot with tomato paste. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add rinsed moringa leaves to pot, add water if necessary.
Boil until meat/fish is done, adding maggi, salt, and pepper to taste.
Serve over rice.

Gaari Nafanta- Ameliorated gaari (shaved cassava)
Ingredients: gaari, peanut butter, moringa leaves, maggi, salt, onions.
Note: all of the moringa leaf water should be added to the gaari or drunk to optimize nutrient consumption.
Boil a small amount of water.
Add dried moringa leaves to water, boil until soft.
Chop onions and mix with pounded maggi and salt.
Add boiled moringa leaf water very slowly to dry gaari, mixing with fork until if is light and fluffy.
Combine gaari, peanut butter and moringa leaves until well mixed.
Top with onion, maggi and salt mixture.

Bita Nafanta- Ameliorated porridge
Ingredients: millet power (any type of grain power can be used), moringa leaves, sugar. Boil 1 measure of water in pot.
Combine 1 measure of millet power with 1 measure of water, stir until evenly distributed.
Add mixture to boiling water, stirring to ensure clumps do not form.
Allow to cook 15 minutes.
Add dried moringa leaf power, stir. Take off fire.
Add sugar to taste.
(To further ameliorate this porridge, a combination of different types of grain powders can be used, bean powder, fish powder, and powdered or fresh milk may all be added. The ideal ratio is 2:1 grain to protein source).

Final Field Report
The African Sky project to improve a Woman's Association in Gargouna, Mali, West African has come to a close. The main objective, to improve the woman's garden is currently in its second year and has been a great success. For the 2008 planting season, from November through Febuary, the Woman's Association of Gargouna improved the communal garden by purchasing watering cans and fencing. Additionally, much hard work was necessary to prepare and improve the soil through composting. A number of vegtables were planted, including lettace, okra, onions and tomatoes, and most proved to be sucessful. This year, for the 2009 planting season the Association is again planting many of the same vegtables, in addition to several new verities such as beans and peas.

This project has had great results in Gargouna. All produce grown in the garden is either sold in the local market, thus providing nutrition to the community or devided among the woman, supplying nutrition derectly to their families. In turn, all income eaned from selling the produce, tomatoes being the most popular, was invested in the Association. In years to come part of this money will be used to purchase more seeds, making the Associations gardening endavore sustanable.

Additionally, Moranga tree seeds and plastic sacks were purchaed, and a small tree nursery was begun. These trees, approximatly 150 sapplings, form the core of a 'food bank' of edibel and nutritous foliage. Thus far, the food bank has been harvested once. At that time the leaves were dried, cooked and mixed with cassava shavings and peanutbutter to make a healthy snack. Reception was excellent and intrest in Moringa is growning in Gargouna.