Rethinking Permaculture

To farm, or not to farm?

A family can earn a significant amount of money by sending their young teens to Thailand to work. Because of that, attrition from primary to secondary school is over 50%. Of course, this impacts education development dramatically. I have a small amount of experience in permaculture, mostly as a hobby, and have been asked to come up with a proposal for my current employer.

I just got back from one of my thinking walks where I saw fish ponds, chicken coops, pig pens, small plots of cash crops, essentially all of the techniques agricultural NGO's boast that they bring to rural communities. Well, the techniques are here, the wealth definitely is not.

Maybe it's time to switch the cart and horse. Maybe the question isn't "how can we teach these poor farmers how to do it right?" but instead "Why aren't they doing it already?" I mean, isn't it naive of us to think that a bunch of farmers don't know how to farm? That all they need is a training and a pat on the back before they're on the road to development?

So, I'm shifting gears. Not "What do they need?" but "What barriers do they need removed?"

Perhaps this will finally save the world.