New Publications from Third World Network
From www.twnside.org.sg/
The Impact of Compost Use on Crop Yields in Tigray, Ethiopia, 2000-2006 inclusive
By Sue Edwards, Arefayne Asmelash, Hailu Araya and Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher
Publisher: TWN (ISBN: 978-983-2729-91-4)
Year: 2009 No. of pages: 32
ABOUT THE BOOK
In
1996, the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) in
In 1998, the Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tigray Region adopted the making of compost as part of its extension package. By 2007 at least 25% of the farmers were making and using compost. Between 2003 and 2006 grain yield for the Region almost doubled. Since 1998, there has also been a steady decrease in the use of chemical fertiliser.
Making
and using compost is also being promoted in other regions of the country.
In 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that around two million
(16%) of the highland farmers were using compost as part of their efforts
to increase food crop production for food security in
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/end/end10.htm
ABOUT THE BOOK Chemical- and energy-intensive industrial agriculture has not only wrought environmental damage and perpetuated social inequity, but also increasingly faces the problem of stagnant yields and declining productivity. There is therefore an urgent need for ecologically, economically and socially sustainable forms of farming which will at the same time preserve the productivity of the agroecosystem. Sustainable agriculture, which includes such practices as organic farming and agroecology, integrates natural regenerative processes, minimises non-renewable inputs and draws on traditional and local knowledge of farmers. As this paper shows, the application of sustainable agriculture methods can greatly enhance farm productivity, especially in the developing world, without harming the environment. Importantly, ecologically friendly, energy-efficient sustainable agriculture mitigates the pressing problem of climate change and also enables farmers to better respond and adapt to increased climate variability. This paper calls for investment, research and policy support to be channelled towards sustainable agriculture in order to promote mainstream adoption of farming approaches which can more reliably feed the world now and into the future.' |
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/end/end09.htm
My gratitude to those individuals who make the "physical effort" of educating the masses around us on the importance, and the viability of composting / organic approaches to farming. It is a simple observation; if one takes the time out of their existence, too actually observe, that if you take care of the soil organically, the plant life will know what to do without the interference of humans. Especially important, is the fact Earth's living food web, can adjust to changing temperature naturally; As opposed to "commercial or scientific farming applications", where research with chemicals become a challenge in the face of a climate change VS research done in different conditions, i.e. (in a lab with grow lights, or a "test plot", somewhere on the globe), but these conditions >are never< the same as a Farmers conditions of a daily, monthly, yearly, farming experience. An easy example of this is; if a plant takes up a belly full of nitrogen, and in the middle of turning this into sugar, a cloudy day blocks the sun, that fat little plant become a target of pest bugs, that will eat that plant due to the "excess" of sugar/starch! Unfortunately, it is this old scientific thinking that is the foundation of commercial farming. These "chemical farmers" are immediately set into damage control, due to the "recipe" of >the Big Three< chemical fertilizers, that then require "Huge amounts of Water", in order to process this artificial growth pattern and have a successful crop. But, once all the water table is depleted, and salt intrusion is introduced to the water table, jeopardizing all good water, and since these farmers have "killed" all the natural living organisms in the soil with chemicals, it becomes a dead community of soil, with no chance for the next crops roots to feed. Unfortunately, humans are impatient creatures, and to go back to an organic approach will take a few seasons of applying compost to build the living community in the soil, and that in itself, is a tall order for farmers to stand by and doing nothing in the way of throwing chemicals at there crops. they have been conditioned since the 50's and 60's. Especially, when you have a corporate representative, with the latest show and tell research, with fancy equipment that will spread herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, and the promise of incredible yields in his or her fields. To those so tempted, please look the other way. It is simply a "drug addiction of chemicals", with big corporate Dealers, selling their goods on the edge of your fields! Please resist.
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