Ahmadiyya Endeavor in Agriculture A worldwide movement to feed the hungry and bring peace to mankind

Transcription

1 Ahmadiyya Endeavor in Agriculture A worldwide movement to feed the hungry and bring peace to mankind Following the principle described by Hadhrat Messiah Maud (as), Hadhrat Khalifatul Messih V has mandated the US Jamaat to promote agriculture, agriculture education, beautify the mosques, and of course, as indicated in the poster below, feed the hungry in America.. Prophet Mohammed (saw) said a man can t be righteous if his neighbor is hungry and he had dinner It is therefore onus upon all the presidents, and every Ahmadi muslim, to participate by enthusiastically volunteering in various agricultural programs described below. I just visited Longwood garden in Philadelphia and found that volunteers work there daily, so I am sure the response of Ahmedies to Hazoor s call will be more fervent [At least one Ahmadi, has already come forward to follow some of our techniques to produce multiple plants; his setup and plants are shown at the end as a case study] As indicated above, there are three parts of the US Ahmadiyya agriculture program: 1. Feed the hungry in America and beyond ( Falah Shams Sahib is extending to pacific Islands) 2. Beautification of mosques, and the less fortunate neighborhoods 3. Education and awareness for various agricultural techniques for leisure, employment and business opportunities

2 Feed the hungry in America Apparently, the idea of feeding the hungry in the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth may look strange but reality is that millions of Americans, white, black, brown, young and old are affected by hunger as shown in pictures below. According to one report (see below), 49 million Americans don t know when and from where their next meal will come from. And that is an alarming number; and therefore, it should be clear why Hazoor has asked Ahmedies of America to feed the hungry in America. All Ahmadi muslims should take this call of Hazoor very seriously and do their best to alleviate hunger in America. Thus, the agriculture program of Ahmadiyya Jamaat USA is very much focused to address this need in response to Huzoor s call. The reason for uncertainty about next meal is not because Americans are not generous in giving food to the poor. In fact, Americans are very kind hearted people and frequently run food drives and make it available to the hungry through distribution centers

3 However, most donors give cooked food (as shown in pictures above); and therefore, uncertainty remains for the next meal as cooked food would only last for a day or so. The Ahmadiayya approach to alleviate uncertainty of food for the hungry To reduce the fear of uncertainty, the Ahmadiyya approach is to feed them through self-help leading them to become self-sufficient and donors of the future. Thus, in proverbial terms we would like to teach the needy how to fish, and that in most cases will boost self-dignity and happiness as shown below. Our mission is to provide materials and methods to the needy, farmers, and members of communities far and near us, irrespective of race or religion, to grow plants for food, health, and leisure; and to promote awareness of agricultural based industries for business or employment Following this mission we ran a successful feed the hungry program in Texas for several years. Here are highlights of the program I conducted in Rio Grand Valley, Texas. Initially, we chose to provide sweet potatoes and bitter melon to needy in clonias (clonias is a special term used for areas in Texas where less fortunate people live) of Mission TX. Sweet potato was chosen to provide staple food and bitter melon (karela) to combat diabetes that was reaching epidemic levels in that area; more plants were added later. We obtained special varieties of sweet potatoes that were rich in polyphenol contents, and hence, with great health benefitting compounds as shown in the pictures of one cultivar below. Raw after boiling

4 The first sample received from USDA germplasm lab was in agar in a tiny plastic sleeve. This was grown in a pot under controlled conditions to a reasonable size and then several copies were made using stem cuttings. The cuttings were rooted with hormone as shown in the left picture below. Rooted cuttings were planted in small pots in greenhouse from which a number of plants were obtained as shown here in right side picture below. The same technique was used for multiplying bitter melon plants These plantlets were then distributed to people in colonias (as shown in pictures below) who did have some land to grow food for their families..

5 Produce from demonstration plot was also distributed New locations new needs Unlike Texas, there is very little land in poor neighborhoods of northern cities such as Philadelphia. In addition, for almost six months temperatures in north are too cold to grow plants outside. Therefore different strategies have to be used to address these conditions. For example, one must adopt vertical cultivation as well as hydroponics to plants for food and business. Here are a few illustrations of vertical cultivation and hydroponics. Examples of vertical cultivation are given above but one could also grow food plants in porches and roads and rooftops like as shown in pictures below.

6 Of course, there is always a room for innovation and creativity! So one could try growing plants on concrete walls or hanging in the air as shown here Hydroponic cultivation is a very viable method of growing plants in home or commercially. This can be done by growing plants on pipes or fish tanks as shown below Growing in pipes using nutrient solution

7 Growing in fish tank Plants can be grown in greenhouse/growth chamber when ambient temperatures reach freezing or even below freezing temperatures. I designed and developed inexpensive growth chambers for this purpose; i.e. our growth chamber costs were $6000 while equivalent commercial was sold for $90,000. Our growth chamber was very precise in temperature control and its design was published in a major scientific journal, as shown below. A battery of five such chambers was built for experimentation at different environmental conditions. Our indigenously built growth chamber Assembly of five growth chambers The design was published in prestigious journal of Hort Science

8 For feed the hungry program, such sophisticated chambers are not needed, and I am discussing with the Engineering Department of Temple University in Philadelphia to design and fabricated inexpensive chambers or greenhouses for local use. Many greenhouses sold in market for a couple of thousand dollars will not protect plant under freezing conditions, so one need to be careful in selection. Here are a few existing ideas that may need to be modified to fit the needs under real cold temperatures.. Beautification of Mosques and less fortunate neighborhoods It is no brainer that people and their children will be attracted to mosques that have beautiful garden like atmosphere to spend some quality time for leisure along with prayers. New and large mosques can produce a spectacular atmosphere but even urban mosques with limited space can also develop very effective garden like appearance. For example making arches, flowerbed, and falls are real possibilities for mosques similar to the size of mosque in Silver Springs, MD.

9 Mosques, and their neighborhoods, in urban areas can also be decorated in a following way with modest amount of investments and good number of volunteers

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11 Education An important part of the program is educating people in various modern agricultural techniques such as, propagation (via seed, cuttings, grafting, micropropagation, and tissue culture), irrigation methods, nutrient application (including hunger signs in plants), multches and covers, pest control methods (natural, organic as well as pesticide), and special techniques such mycorrhizae (and rhizobial) symbiosis, plant hormones, kaoline and other special sprays. My discussion with professors of Temple University indicated that there are serious needs for providing vocational education to youth in less fortunate neighborhoods, and they are interested to collaborate with me. Here I give a few examples of propagation methods that I performed at various times during my career. Detail of other methods, that I have also used, will be provided later in workshops depending upon interest of the people. From seeds Growing large number of seeds in trays in green house during for plantation in garden in spring Vegetative propagation methods Propagation through cuttings of vegetables or herbaceous plants Incubation roots rooting within a week growing plants in pots after hormone treatment

12 Propagation from cuttings of tree branches Incubation of roots rooting in 4-6 weeks growing plant in pot After hormone treatment Grafting Veneer grafting Approach grafting Here are some examples from our work Veneer grafting in olives Approach grafting in olives

13 Tomato shoot over potato roots Examples of fun grafting Different apples on the same plant Micropropagation techniques Here we produced multiple plants from a single leaf of African violet plant. But this technique requires special facilities although in some cases it would be possible to do at home. Tissue culture Multiple plants can be produced from callus culture as shown below, but this requires sepecial equipment and facilities, and therefore, should not be tried for home. But for some interested in business opportunities this a viable technique to produce thousands of plants in small space. The example shown below were produced in my lab. Callus shoot emerging from callus shoot shoot with root

14 Special techniques such as mycorrhizae and rhizobia symbiosis, plant manipulation through hormones, mulches and covers, irrigation methods, and pest control techniques will be covered in special workshops if there was interest. Business opportunities As shown below, agriculture provides a very wide range of employment and business opportunities from very small businesses to multimillion dollar businesses. Awareness to such opportunities will be given only to the interested in special discussion sessions. A case study of using our help to propagate and grow plants at home A member of of Philadelphia Jamaat showed interest in learning propagation techniques and setting up a small greenhouse for this winter. Accordingly, a small makeshift type greenhouse was made in the basement of his house with a lot of enthusiasm and personal effort. It only took a few hours, and a trip to hardware store, and nursery supplies store, to build this greenhouse setup. We helped him with vegetative propagation techniques but the efforts were entirely of his own, and he produced several ornamental plants. He also produced several plants from an Indian cultivar of sweet potatoes with only minimal instructions from us. Thus, with little effort and personal involvement many people can achieve success for propagating and caring different types of plants. The magnitude of the project would depend on the interest one is willing to devote and whether it is strictly for leisure or with hopes to expand to business. At the Jamaat level our interest would be a larger project where hundreds of plants could be produced and distributed; and that would be very workable projects sure to improve tabligh efforts and the image of a Jamaat in a particular community.

15 Makeshift greenhouse made in the basement Outside view Inside view of the makeshift greenhouse Examples of producing multiple plants through vegetative propagation methods in his basement