In October last year, I went with another member of Goducate’s agriculture team in Indonesia to Lailara (population 1030), in Sumba, an island in eastern Indonesia. During our week there we taught the key leaders of the village about Moringa and its health benefits. They also involved the locals in planting 800 Moringa seeds in small polybags. The plan was for the raised seedlings to be transplanted some time in December 2013.
Typhoon Haiyan, however, devastated Central Philippines in November. Goducate shifted its focus to helping the typhoon victims, so I was not able to return to Sumba until late February.
Upon arrival in Lailara, the agriculture team immediately met with the new village chief, who expressed his unstinted support for the Backyard Moringa Project. Strategies were discussed, and the following day the key leaders were given hands-on demonstrations on how to dig the hole properly, add compost or complete fertilizer, transplant the seedlings, and construct a tree guard to protect the plant from stray animals.
There are 250 households in Lailara, and each household received two seedlings each. About 6-8 months from now, the village folk should be able to consume Moringa as vegetable. The next step will be to teach them how to process Moringa leaves into powder and other products.
