More than 250 women in East Java attended the training on Moringa and container gardening conducted a couple of weeks ago by Goducate agricultural consultants from the Philippines. The lectures were held in the morning, and all hands-on activities were done in the afternoon of the same day. Most of the attendees were from Kota Kediri, whereas the rest came from six other towns in East Java.
Like many Indonesians who had attended past agriculture trainings held by Goducate, it was the first time that the majority of the participants learnt of Moringa as God’s Miracle Tree. While some had heard about container gardening as a means of using recycled materials for growing vegetables, most were unfamiliar about companion planting, site selection, crop-care activities, and proper harvesting.
The participants were very appreciative when shown how to prepare a healthy tea drink by combining 1 cup of Moringa leaves, 1 cup of lemon grass, and 1 cup of ginger in 4 cups of water, then bringing them to a boil and simmering the concoction for only 2 minutes. They were also impressed by the simplicity of preparing Moringa capsules manually with the use of a capsule-filler device. One highlight was the cooking demonstration on Philippine chicken tinola with Moringa leaves. Although the participants found it odd to think of Moringa as a leaf vegetable, they liked the taste of the soup and the native chicken.
Those who joined the container-gardening hands-on session learned how to prepare the ideal soil medium containing a ratio of 1:1:1 rice husk, garden soil, and compost, respectively. They also learned about the preliminaries involved in the planting of small and big seeds and how to ensure the growing of pesticide-free vegetables.
Having Moringa in the backyard or in a container garden is a low-cost, low-tech, high-impact strategy for improving the health and nourishment of people in needy communities. Goducate hopes to be able to introduce this strategy to many other needy communities.
