ECHO
17391 Durrance Road
North Fort Myers, FL 33917
Telephone: 239-543-3246
Fax: 239-543-5317
Email: info@echonet.org
For more than four decades, this non-profit Christian organization has been fighting hunger by providing informational resources and trial packets of seeds to those helping small-scale farmers and urban gardeners for tropical agriculture in developing countries (mostly south of the U.S.). They have a demonstration/training farm in Florida (with interesting public tours), an intern program, a research library, an on-line bookstore (www.echobooks.org), and a vast amount of information on tropical agriculture and appropriate technology on their agricultural network portal (www.ECHOcommunity.org). ECHO holds a major annual conference in Fort Myers.
One example of ECHO’s emphasis is the moringa tree. It is often called “the miracle tree” because the seeds can reduce about 90% of the impurities in drinking water, the leaves are very nutritious for children and adults, it can be a green manure to improve soils, and it is also a livestock feed. ECHO has a book and some pamphlets about it. Also see www.moringafarms.com (in Sherman Oaks, CA), and www.moringanews.org (in Paris, France) for more information. You can order seeds through ECHO or Moringa Farms. Another ECHO focus is on the artemisia plant because its leaves can make a tea to help treat malaria (see www.anamed.net for seeds). You can also contact www.anamed.org (a Christian organization in Germany) for multi-language information about artemesia and moringa products and activities.
If you are going overseas to an area where it is difficult to grow food, contact ECHO for information about week-long Tropical Agriculture Development courses at ECHO. They provide a wealth of information on tropical agriculture and good networking opportunities. Learn more about them at www.ECHOcommunity.org