Hi-Tech African Farmer Suspected of Wizardry

news.yahoo.com...

"Among his neighbours, Phillip Tshuma, 67, is considered a wizard who commands the rains with the help of goblins. How else could he grow a bumper crop of ripening maize, sorghum, millet and peanuts in a season when many farmers in Zimbabwe have written off their crops?

In truth, the farmer from Gavu, a village in arid Hwange District, about 450 km north of Bulawayo, can't control the weather. But he can predict it fairly accurately.

Using a well-worn record book, a green plastic rain gauge, and a mobile phone on which he receives climate-related information via SMS, Tshuma makes farming decisions based on the weather patterns in his area, including when to plant, how to till the soil and how much fertilizer to apply."

Bravo, Mr. Tshuma.

Didn't Arthur C Clark suggest developed technology would be interpreted as magic?

the more food the better I say. I understand millet and sorghum are not pleasant foods but better than nothing.

He did. Technology advanced enough will be perceived as magic by those of a lesser technological level or lack of understanding.

Since we're sending so much aid to Africa, monetarily...why don't we also send some educators.

a reply to: Atsbhct

I think our educators gave this guy his wizardry.

much better to help people help themselves, than just hand out MREs.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Science: Magic that works.

Kinda reminds me of this saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

a reply to: Atsbhct

I really think this is the best way to help sub saharan Africa. Teach them and we won't have to keep throwing money at them. I'm fine with spending some more now so we spend less in the future. Also I'd like to see their lives improve.

^ I was going to say the same thing. Agreed.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Something else besides a rain gauge and cell phone are involved. He can't make it rain, so he must have a source of water nearby that other africans might not, depending on location.

I would rather not plant in a desert, no matter how 'informed' I am.

Edit: He had 'help'…

With $30,000 of funding from ICRISAT, the project teaches techniques to help farmers improve their harvests while cutting their costs. Those includes mulching fields to save water, planting crops in dug-out basins filled with manure, planting different types of crops together in a field and using fertilizer in small doses just where it is needed.

originally posted by: Alchemst7
Kinda reminds me of this saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Or my favorite version, "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a night; Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for life".

So, will African Gandalf teach his wizardry to other farmers or do you have to be on the white council of elders to learn the earth magics?

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: ElGoobero

Something else besides a rain gauge and cell phone are involved. He can't make it rain, so he must have a source of water nearby that other africans might not, depending on location.

I would rather not plant in a desert, no matter how 'informed' I am.

Edit: He had 'help'…

With $30,000 of funding from ICRISAT, the project teaches techniques to help farmers improve their harvests while cutting their costs. Those includes mulching fields to save water, planting crops in dug-out basins filled with manure, planting different types of crops together in a field and using fertilizer in small doses just where it is needed.

I wonder how many individuals have been taught said techniques. Hopefully he is teaching others as well. The best way to become expert at something you've become really good at, is to teach others. And for him - while his outcome can be a source of pride (and of making a living), even better would be the guy the whole region is thankful to for teaching them the same, improving not only the lives of others and the wider community, but improving the land as well.

Plus...he should really show as many people as possible before somebody ends up burning him at the stake for witchcraft and for associating with goblins.

a reply to: ElGoobero

He is a Wizard, in the literal sense. He wizzes on his crops in times of drought. This is generally frowned upon in Africa.

a reply to: Atsbhct

I know those who are there teaching them Soil conditioning using EM1, something I am not happy with when it is over used.

Also another is teaching them mulch farming, with very little rain they are able to still grow beans and other small crops and veggies. This technique uses very little water, and the farmer sometimes has to go out a shade the crop using leaves of other plants and even branches to keep the water in the mulch from evaporating.

All they have to do is go to any random state university in the Midwest. Almost all the schools have an agriculture deparment. Even something like an associates in agricultrual management would put them ahead in the game in terms of being able to use the information available to them. (Which is likely what this guy did.)

Of course much of Africa still has some things to be desired in terms of literacy and baseline education. It's not so much this guy is at a genius level, but he definitely had a head start somewhere vs. his local peers.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Well this is positive, finally they are teaching these people how to look after themselves.....

Tshuma is one of a thousand small-scale famers in southern Zimbabwe benefiting from a project called Climate Smart Agriculture: Combating the El Niño Phenomenon.

I know i am cynical but we must have run out of resources to plunder there so we stop throwing money at them teach em a few skills and move on....

yup, just using farming equipment

a reply to: Domo1

I really think this is the best way to help sub saharan Africa.

There are many ways 'we' can and do 'help' Africa.

The World Bank, G8 and IMF cancelled billions of dollars worth of debt in around 2002.
Yet debt has continued to increase and debt owed by African nations is now conservatively estimated to be at around the 4 trillion dollars mark.

Probably a pittance when balanced against the amounts that have been stripped and exploited out of the African continent over the years.

Its obvious current policies don't work.

Various organisations have spent enormous amounts of time and money in trying to assist African people in agriculture, engineering, education etc and to encourage them to try and be self-sufficient and self-reliant.

But none of that will make much difference in the grand scheme as long as the inherent corruption and tribal differences are allowed to run unchecked.

'The West' does little to help eradicate the rampant corruption as it helps big business and the major corporations to continue to make massive profits out their African operations.
Neither does 'The West' do much about the internecine tribal conflict throughout the continent.

Added to that there is the genuine fear that any attempts to 'interfere' will be met with the PC accusations of neo-colonialism etc.

Stories like this are endearing......but they have very little bearing on the reality of life for many if not most Africans.