Today, the Plaine des Roches Credit Cooperative Society invited us to attend a workshop entitled ‘Caring for the Environment,’ organized by the Fairtrade Foundation. The manager of the Mauritius Farmers Service Center led the workshop and discussed the importance of environmental awareness, sustainable agriculture and the current challenges facing the Mauritian agricultural sector.
Addressing local small-income farmers he discussed these issues and presented concrete techniques for increasing crop-yields, preventing soil erosion, and transitioning to organic farming. After the workshop, the manager told us that it is becoming quite a challenge to convince farmers to be environmentally conscious at a time when the nation’s major crop, sugar cane, is struggling in the international market. Moreover, many farmers fail to recognize that they may contribute to environmental degredation through the overuse of pesticides, herbicides and in general, environmentally-unsound farming practices.
There will be a series of similar workshops in the future and we look forward to attending them. We believe that they will be very helpful in crafting ‘Green Projects’ for local youth. These projects, run alongside local educators like the manager of the Farmers Service Center, can teach future farmers the importance of environmentally-friendly agriculture.