Get up close on the Moringa farm June 18, 2016 12:09

How often do you get to visit a real Moringa farm? I am guessing not often, as Moringa grows best in the tropics and unlike vineyards and Scottish whisky distilleries they are hardly on the tourist trail! 

We have, almost, the next best thing! In 2013 we released a video showing our farm partner near Leon in Nicaragua. However since then the farm has grown employing hundreds of people, growing tens of thousands of trees and producing the finest organic Moringa we know of. Working with our farmer is a special relationship, born of a shared vision, to help fellow Nicaraguans. Yes the farm itself is a commercial venture and we ourselves a social enterprise, however the farm gives saplings for our own smaller farm in Matagalpa which in turn produce saplings for free distribution. 

The farm also produces the Moringa powder which we sell online here, but giveaway in our feeding programmes in Bluefields, Nicaragua for kids. As you will see in some of our videos and photos the kids range from all ages and on the man feeding programme we support upwards of 50 children. 

Above: you should recognise the white pot our volunteer is holding, it's the same we sell here in the UK, Powdered Moringa goes into every meal at the feeding programme.

All the farming is done by hand, the Moringa is harvested, processed and de-stemed by hand, the mild air ovens and the powderising machine are the only mechanical process the high quality organic Moringa goes through 

Above: Workers collect the harvest Moringa and pack into the back of a tractor, some 30 mins later it will have been processed locking in the nutrients.

Above: Workers stripping the Moringa of stems and making it ready for drying.

Once the Moringa is dried it is powdered ready for shipment to the UK and potted up  or encapsulated here in the UK.

Planting Moringa June 4, 2016 15:45

A team from the UK visits Bluefields on the East coast of Nicaragua four times a year as part of the Peace and Hope Trust programme. Whilst their main focus is on local infrastructure, facilities and skills development. There is always time to  get involved in the Moringa saplings planting project. 

A handle full of Peace and Hope Trust local workers have given up parts of their 'gardens' to a Moringa nursery. As Moringa grows so fast in these climates they are able to grow several large batches a year. Whilst the saplings are distributed locally year round as in need families are identified. They are distributed on a wider and larger scale by the UK teams. 

Pictured is one of our long term local workers, Nadine, selecting saplings for planting, his modest wooden 2 room house behind him. He gives up his spare time and land, raising Moringa saplings, to help his fellow people and spreads the word in the community. In turn your support of our Moringa products and donations to the Peace and Hope Trust make this possible. 

As a lot of UK teams are regulars, visiting once or twice  a year for many years they are able to witness first hand  not only the fast growth of the tree, which will provide enough leaves for a family to take from daily but also the health benefits it has on them.

Above a young girl who lives with her mum and sister on the road to the rubbish dump and not far from the Verbeo school inspected her Moringa tree which is a several weeks old. The animals love Moringa and in the early stages the trees need to be protected from dogs, cats, and cattle, that's often why trees don't have so much low level vegetation.  

The benefits of the project - just a few leaves each day are enough to supplement a family's diet to help with a long list of human conditions, most commonly malnutrition here but so much more!

You can find out about some of benefits on our website, others, we are prohibited from mentioning in the EU due to restrictions originating from the pharmaceutical companies! Who really don't want you to know too much about Moringa. But you can do your own research into academic papers, UNICEF, charities operating outside the EU, newspapers from all over the world and even from the Gates foundation!

Moringa Harvest Twitter News July 28, 2015 22:38