This website was the home of the permEzone pilot program, which ran for seven years up to the end of 2023.
Click on the FAR button to visit our NEW WEBSITE - WWW.FARMERS-ALLIANCE.ORG.
FAR

Eco-social resilience, by design

Because food security and environmental health go hand in hand, our goal is to build expertise in farming communities around the world about practical options for improving yields and livelihoods using ecologically regenerative approaches. permEzone is a non-profit program training and supporting family farmers in the design of sustainable food systems, and the benefits of working collaboratively to improve their local economy and environment.

The Farmers Alliance for Restoration

With the completion of our pilot program, we are now re-organizing under the banner of the Farmers Alliance for Restoration.
Learn all about the our plans for working with many more communities of smallholder farmers: here.
Check out the new FAR website.
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Why contribute?

All donations being made through permEzone are now going towards projects in East Africa being organized by a new non-profit registered in Kenya - Farmers Alliance for Restoration, East Africa. They will provide training and support for impoverished rural communities to learn how to help themselves.
Your contribution will:
  • Help hundreds of families feed themselves with nutritious food
  • Help them increase their income from diverse crops, and reduce farm costs
  • Help us support them as they work together to find shared solutions to common problems
  • Help improve the local environment and take action to reverse climate change
Please click Donate, and help in any way you can - thank you!!

The Pilot

The permEzone pilot program, developing and testing our approach to training and supporting farmers in East Africa, has now completed its third and final pilot project.
Phase 1 in Asumbi village, Migori County, Kenya, was successfully completed in April 2020. This was delivered by Community Mobilisation for Regenerative Agriculture (C-MRA) and you can read their final report here.
Phase 2 with the farmers in Sanje Village, in the Central Retion of Uganda, was delivered by Broadfield Enterprises Uganda (BEU), successfully completed in April 2021.
Phase 3 with farmers in Kisa West, Kakamega County, Kenya, also being delivered by C-MRA, started in February 2021 and  completed in September 2023.

The pilot was a multi-year, independently monitored experiment to test and document the permEzone program, in particular:
  • Working with the existing network of regional permaculture training centers to help rural communities build their own efficient sustainable food systems.
  • Finding effective ways to share knowledge and information in isolated and resource-poor communities.
Now that the pilot has been completed, we are building on these experiences as we prepare to expand the program and build capacity to facilitate the much-needed transition to more resilient farming communities and healthy local economies.

The Vision

With the completion of the permEzone pilot, Farmers Alliance for Restoration will take over as a new network of nonprofits to implement the model we've worked as widely as possible. They will continue to collaborate with permaculture training centers in less-developed countries to equip local farmers with practical skills, and then support them in designing model farms.

Permaculture projects around the world have shown that the negative impacts of modern agriculture on the environment can be reversed, and that degraded land can be turned into productive farms.
The world’s 500 million family farmers could be a powerful force for environmental regeneration. Instead of encouraging farming methods that harm the environment and bring mostly short-term benefits, we can help bring sustainable improvements in yields and livelihoods by demonstrating that improved food security and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand.

Our program is working with permaculture centers and sponsors smallholders/family farmers to learn about permaculture design. They are then be supported in sharing sustainable farming practices within their community. We take inspiration from the success of permaculture centers like CELUCT in the Chimanimani district of Zimbabwe.

Future plans include the development of a mobile phone platform, using technology that can benefit the most remote and resource-poor communities, and support the farmers in accessing and sharing information.

Recent Updates

May 13th, 2024. Our May Newsletter marks the end of the farmers' training in Kisumu West as they start implementing what they've learned on their farms, and the latest on launching the Farmers Alliance for Restoration.
March 3rd, 2024. Our March Newsletter has the latest updates from the project in Kisumu West, and more about our plans to launch the Farmers Alliance for Restoration.
December 19th, 2023. Our 2nd December Newsletter tells about our first post-pilot project getting started in Western Kenya, and highlights some of the outcomes from the three pilot projects we ran in Kenya and Uganda.
December 8th, 2023. Our December Newsletter brings you many stories from farmers who participated in the final permEzone pilot project, and news about our plans for the future.
August 26th, 2023. Our August Newsletter has lots of updates and photos from the farmers in Kisa West as the 3rd and final permEzone pilot project approaches it's conclusion.
September 19th, 2022. Our September Newsletter brings information from the farmers in Kisa West about how they are managing drought conditions with their new farm designs, putting their permaculture training into practice.
June 1st, 2022. Our June Newsletter brings a photo gallery from the farmers in Kisa West, as they implement their new farm designs, one year after they completed their permaculture training.
March 23rd, 2022. Our March Newsletter shares some great stories from the farmers who participated in our first pilot project in Asumbi, drawn from the doctoral research of David Yisrael Epstein Halevi.
December 31st, 2021. Our December Newsletter brings more updates from the farmers in Kisa West, and looks forward to extending this work to benefit many more farming communities in East Africa. 
September 30th, 2021. Our September Newsletter brings some early success stories from three of the farmers in Kisa West who completed their training at the end of May.
August 14th, 2021. Our August Newsletter introduces a new member of our Project Board, and links to an article published in Uganda about BEU's work, including the permEzone pilot project in Sanje.
April 30th, 2021: Our April Newsletter describes the growing culture of cooperation as the farmer training in Kisa West enters its final month.
February 17th, 2021: Our February Newsletter, with updates from BEU's work with the farmers of Sanje.
December 31st, 2020: Our December Newsletter, with updates from C-MRA's work with the farmers of Kisa West.
November 29th, 2020: Our 2021 Calendars are available in return for your donations until December 10th.
October 7th, 2020: Our October Newsletter marks the start of fundraising for our 3rd Pilot Project, back in Kenya with C-MRA, and with the farmers of Kisa West.
September 11, 2020: This special Newsletter explains the Doctoral Research that David Yisrael Epstein-Halevi will be carrying out with the farmers who participated in our first pilot in Asumbi.
August 23, 2020: Our August Newsletter gives a detailed account of the successful completion of our Phase One pilot project with C-MRA in Asumbi, Kenya.
July 2020: The 1st phase of the permEzone pilot was successfully completed in April, and the Final Report from C-MRA is now available to read online.