The most common problem that can make permagardens fail is livestock destroying the garden. This happened to some of the people we trained in Nyamata and Gisagara, for instance, as well as people Peter trained in 2020. When communities began telling us about these incidents, The Permagardens Foundation asked what would be most helpful, and the communities answered help with fencing. So we’ve been providing more guidance on how to grow fruit and moringa trees close together around the perimeter of a newly built permagarden to create strong fences.
Some families told us they need more variety of seeds. Given that many of these communities have Vitamin A deficiencies, we started including carrot seeds (which are very rich in Vitamin A) and fruit trees (rich in many vitamins) in the budget of the supplies we distribute to each family who attends a training.
Some communities are in remote and mountainous locations, making follow-up difficult. Funding for continuous follow-up is limited, yet follow-up is critical. We’ve learned that changing mindsets requires ongoing mentorship and reinforcement– not just one-time training.
Pests have affected some gardens. In this case, we would advise permagardeners to make natural insecticide from neem trees, which are quite common in our training areas and other regions.
