The people you want to "help" are more sophisticated about agricultural
systems than you could dream of being if that is all you did for the rest of
your life. Please be careful.
I suggest that you immerse youself in permaculture, a whole systems approach
that will seem very rational and familiar to these folks. Instead of
recipies about how much pig or llama shit to combine with peanut hulls, which
is pointless among people who have no need to confine their animals,
permaculture would look at available resources, available skills, cultural
assets and liabilities, and local needs to design a site-by-site approach
that is practical and the most efficient possible over the long run. The
design would include strategies (staging) on how to get from current
conditions to the "ultimate' design, step by step, again using only local
resources, skills and predalictions. If you are going to help, I strongly
urge you to get some training followed by several years of dirty-fingernail
experiences.
Meanwhile, there are the permaculture books, widely available in many places,
including from us, and also some specialized publications we put out such as
*Plants for Use in Permaculture in the Tropics * and *Patiofarming in the
Tropics and Subtropics.* We also have a sheet listing special order
publications of interest in the tropics.
For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now permaculture
training in an email classroom. Copyright, 1996, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway.
YankeePerm@aol.com P.O. 2025, Ocala FL 3447-2025 USA.
We don't have time to rush.