Give a man a fish... and you will feed him a day.
Teach a man to catch a fish.... and you feed him 'till the fish are gone;
Teach a man to raise a fish...and you feed him and his family for life.
Early last summer I had the chance to meet John McMillin and learn about the amazing work he has done concerning famine. He is a social scientist whose group, Land and Water Resources International (LAWRI), basically saved the people of Ansokia Valley, Ethiopia in 1989 by introducing interdependent fish farming and gardening techniques. Before he arrived, many had died of starvation and malnutrition; most survivors had bloated stomachs. Ansokia Valley was comparable to a living hell. One of the first to respond, McMillin described that when his small airplane was landing on the desert floor the wheels started a ferocious bumping when they touched down. McMillin asked the pilot, “What is the matter?” The answer: they were landing on dead bodies, victims of the terrible famine, that littered the makeshift runway.
By the time McMillin was done with his work the people of Ansokia Valley had reliable means to produce both food and potable water. He had developed a two stage recycling food production process which started with finding a source of water. After that he planted seeds for growing vegetables and greens. Then he fashioned a pond for fish whose surface scum was used as a fertilizer for the gardens. Once the plants were grown a portion was dedicated for feeding Talapia a very fast growing fish that do not require much food. This way the people could have a consistent production of protein and vegetables; a fully sustainable and successful cycle.
This story made me want to take part in what he was doing and soon I found a way. Currently he is working in Canchias, Honduras on a similar food production project. This blog is meant to be a place to share information about his unique agriculture, aquaculture and waste-water recycling program and though it focuses on his work in Hondorus I hope it will serve as a place to share information with others around the world so history does not repeat itself.
Here is the general idea of how to "Teach A Man To Raise A Fish".
McMillin has created a reliable means to produce both food and drinkable water. He had developed a two stage recycling food production process which starts with finding a source of water. After that he plants seeds for growing vegetables and greens. Then he fashions a pond for fish whose surface scum was used as a fertilizer for the gardens. Once the plants are grown a portion is dedicated for feeding Talapia a very fast growing fish that do not require much food. This way the people could have a consistent production of protein and vegetables.
This drawing is from John McMillin's Land and Water Resources International brochure. It has a great job of illustrating how his integrated aquaculture/agriculture system works.
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