Permaculture in sub-saharan Africa?

I'm a repatriate from Southern california to Ghana. I wanted to know if the permaculture methods typically discussed here would suit this part of the world. One thing to consider is that we have two seasons, dry and rainy. And of course the flora and fauna aren't entirely the same as in North America. For the latter part I figured I could use or raise similar or equivalent plants and animals. We have plenty of chickens and goats.

Thanks!

Permaculture would work very well. Look into the "greening the desert" projects.

J Youngman wrote:Permaculture would work very well. Look into the "greening the desert" projects.

I haven't read "greening the desert". But I suppose one thing that Fukuoka had not addressed is the presence of critters and other destructive animals as a result of an imbalanced ecosystem created by humans. Say in Oregon, there are too many deer, wild turkeys, gophers, voles, moles, ..  I bought this 2 acres of almost barren land in Oregon with 1 acre covered only by some low nondrought tolerant ornamental trees, ornamental shrubs, some roses, some mostly damaged (by gophers, voles, moles, previous owner's chemicals) low growing lawn grass and 1 acre of barren land covered only by ANNUAL rye grass cause the previous owner lent it to a grass grower.

Fukuoka's seed ball will not work cause there will be animals killing anything that is green. Even if they don't eat the green plants, they will dig up dirt to kill them. I have gophers that will kill grass after eating dandelions cause of the dirt they dig up. Moles will eat worms and insect larvae. But the dirt they dig up will kill almost all plants. Over 50% of the trees that I planted were killed by deer, voles, wild rabbits or drought. The reason why we have so many destructive animals is simple. We killed all the predators of these critters. So, in order to green the deserts, we need to reintroduced predators to the ecosystem. This is actually what is happening in some parts of America. They are introducing wolves and coyotes to areas that need to be reforested.

Permaculture absolutely works in sub-Sahara Africa. Why wouldn't it? Look at the permaculture institute in Zanzibar and Tanzania, look at what Abundant By Nature is doing in tropical Africa. I basically live in a permaculture neighbourhood in South Africa. Same principles, different methods. In fact, a lot of subsistence farmers in Africa use permaculture, it's just not known by that definition. The principles existed long before the 'invention' of permaculture.

Thanks for the recommendation. It's more tropical here than desert, but I'll like to see if I can get some ideas. Perhaps dry season applicable.

Wasn't aware that zanzibar had a permaculture institute. Thanks a lot.

What do you call permaculture and what are some of your concerns that make you think that it might not work in Africa.
How does one define permaculture in the context of a 10th floor penthouse condo, how about on a 1/4acre city lot/house. Then we have the scale of a 2acre or 40acre or broad acre farm with 100+ acres.

To me permaculture in the most narrowest of sense is:
1) doing some earthworks to manage soil water content (huglekulture, swales, etc)
2) increasing the carbon content of the soil (biochar, compost, woodchip, rootmass, etc)
3) increasing the soil life (compost tea, mushroom slurry, compost, etc)
4) maybe mineral amendments (rockdust, sea90, etc)
5) increasing the amount of nitrogen fixing plants (80% at establishment/down season and at least 20% at establishment)
6) Next I would focus on other plant support species
7) and for the actually food production careful species and cultivar selection that works in your area
8) and if possible planting seeds and then grafting vs transplanting, crop rotation, etc
9) next there is animal-food production techniques (pasture species selection, rotational grazing, animal species selection, honey/egg/milk/meat/etc)
10) then there is food preservation/preparation techniques (solar dehydrator, fermentation, sugaring, alcohol, cool/cold storage, canning, etc)

Some folks look at permaculture thru a different lens, esp with a focus on onsite production:
A) Food Production (subsistence farming, organice+ food, etc
B) Food Preparation/Preservation (rocket stove, bio-gas stove, solar dehydrator, ferments, earth storage, canning, etc)
C) Water (well, water purification, irrigation system, etc)
D) Sanitation (greywater system, septic system, animal manure/litter system, reed system, storm water system, etc)
E) Electric (solar electric, Hydro electric , Wind-mechanical, etc
F) Fuel/Heat (solar Hot Water, Bio-gas production, fire wood, etc
G) HVAC (natural ventilation, low heat gain, heat pump, ERV, bathroom/Kitchen vent, outdoor cooking, etc)
H) Building Material/Style (long life, natural material, low embodied energy, site appropriate, etc)
I) Waste Management (composting, bring your own bag, greywater system, septic system, etc)
J) Medicine/Health (nutrient dense food-mineral, enzymes, probiotics; exercise; meditation/yoga, herbs/mushroom, etc)
K) Clothing (100% natural/organic material and dyes and soap, 2nd hand clothing, etc)
L) Income (Cottage industry, online remote work, self-employed, passive income, project based, etc)

There is also human interactions, such as non-violent communication, and such.
I dont see why any of the above wouldn't work for the tropical world.

would you like to involve kenyan permaculture practitioners?
Thanks
Paul odiwuor ogola
https://permoafrica-centre.weebly.com/

Hi Monique, I practice Permaculture in Sub-Saharan Chad, both in my yard and at an elementary school I started. There are a few threads around here about that if you are interested. Mostly it's about cultivating what's near you, around you, with the resources you already have. If you have specific questions it would be fun to chat.