African innovation: Fred shows us his clever solutions Photo: Christine Lanz

JAM believes in using the resources we have to hand when it comes to gardening.

“Instead of having to buy and use shade-netting, polystyrene or polythene bags, we use natural, eco-friendly and locally available materials instead,” says Fred‌ ‌Mutenyo, programmes manager.

He points to the mango leaves that are used as pods to incubate seedlings and other big leaves that are used to protect the seedlings once they have been transplanted into the vegetable beds.

Instead of having to remove seedlings out of trays, the pods are simply planted into the ground. Eventually the “mango-nificent” leaf containers will decompose and provide organic fertiliser to the new plants.

In addition, JAM trains the farmers to make organic pesticides from locally available materials such as hot chillies, ash, onion, garlic and lemon leaves.
“These are low-cost, environmentally conscious African solutions,” says Fred.

Natural umbrellas protect seedlings

Mango leaf seedling tray