Soilbuilding in the developing world

[maupin]

I am teaching Sustainable Ag on a small NGO farm in Thailand, training Burmese farmers in the organic method. Or maybe it is they who are training me in the realities of developing world Agriculture..

Ain't no such thing as compost in the developing world--Every potentially compostable material has a more pressing use-- veg waste is fed to pigs and chickens, rice straw is used for mulch, rice hulls used in brickmaking. No cow means all cultivation is by hand and hoe. No accessible electricity in the field means irrigation is also by hand.

Of course , we do have lots and lots of manures.

Soil Ph is excellent, inputs are beyond affordability. We rotate with one crop of legumes in our four season, three harvest growing. Fallow season is impossible because the farm needs the food and the income.

White Radish (daikon?) is used as an anti-compaction crop, interplanting and marigolds used as pest controls.

I was teaching a class on integrated pest management and a student raised his hand. "Teacher, in Kachin State, our worst pests are monkeys and parrots. Monkeys dig up the corn seed we plant, and parrots strip the ears when they mature. Can you give us ideas on how to use IPM practices to fight this problem?"

Monkeys and parrots---- not a clue.

[rnewste]

maupin,

Wow! I don't think anyone of us tonight sitting in our comfortable climate controlled living room, watching TV, while typing on a laptop computer in response to you, has any sensitivity to the challenges your Farmers in Kachin State face. As you say, what folks here would use to make compost, Farmers there use it to feed livestock. What you have remaining at the end of the food chain to use back into the soil is meager, at best.

Hopefully, someone on this Forum has been in the Peace Corps and has some previous insight into very basic soil enrichment that can be of help to you. While we have our difficulties with Deer, etc. and can be mitigated with netting, etc. Monkeys are far smarter and could figure out how to penetrate netting within minutes. Wow, what a challenge to ponder.....

Raybo

[Stepheninky]

I asked some friends that live in that part of the world and what they said is you can build up the soil using Bean Straw its used over there like a mulch. They said its pretty easy to find year round. Also there is Coconut fiber one of my friends said in his town he gets it free from one of the processors. So it should be free or at least low cost. It contains Tannic Acid so you would need to boil it at 100c to get rid of that. The coconut fiber does not have any nutrient value but he said it will hold 3 liters of water per kg and is also used like a mulch. You can also compost corn cobs and add that to the soil but he said that might be cost prohibitive at B0.70 / kg damp it is B0.30 kg from the processor.

Another friend said to plant sun hemp (pah teung) as a ground cover. He said it grows fast and will fix Nitrogen from the air into the soil. Cut it down and then work it into the soil. He said you can also use rice straw as a mulch but that it is only available after the harvest.

Another friend said plant Jack beans if the land is not able to be tilled or plowed. Just keep it cut down and leave it where it falls and it will keep growing right back up through it. As it breaks down it will help build up the soil.

Anyways hope that helps a bit and gives you some ideals.

[Wi-sunflower]

For the monkeys, have them sprinkle crushed hot peppers (chile powder) over the seed row. That should help. It works here to keep the squirrels from digging up things.

It doesn't work for the Parrots tho as they don't have the mucus membrane that mamals do. In fact birds in general LIKE hot chiles as it makes their feather color brighter. It's been theorised that birds spread the original hot peppers in their poo.

For the birds they would need something like the noisemakers used for crows around here.

Yes it's an eye opener for us that can do whatever we want or can afford.

But We (westerners) HAVE learned a bit from the poor countries too. Using Daikon for compaction issues is a new and growing thing here. I saw a talk about it at a conference a couple of years ago. This last summer 1 of our neighbors, a big corn and cow guy, planted 5 acres of them in 1 of his fields.

It's also promoted as a way to "bring up" minerals that have leached below the root zones of most crops. So that alone is another benifit for your farmers that they might not be aware of.

Good luck,
Carol

[dice]

What about tree leaves? Any deciduous trees around? Or just
something with big leaves like a palm tree or fern that you
can mix in with your copious quantities of manure in a compost
pile. It does not have to be exceptionally nutritious, just something to add organic matter and a food source for
beneficial soil microorganisms and earthworms.

Manure is good stuff in N-P-K terms, but many kinds tend
to compact quite a bit in the soil. (They lack fiber.)

You are up in the mountains there? Any stone quarries around?

[maupin]

Soil is pretty good--the Burmese had soilbuilding practices of their own before they met me. Not many trees--it is paddy land. We do have banana trees, but pigs love the leaves.

Dice-- We have started 140 papaya trees and plan to set many of them on the paddy edges as permaculture. But papaya leaves are pretty small. What would I want with quarry refuse? Ph is fine. (You have my wheels turning.)

Good idea about composting manure with some plant matter to avoid compaction and get undigested plant fibers in the mix. Consider it done.

Carol--monkey chile sounds like a plan--this is not a problem on our farm, but is in the home state of one of my students. (They shoot and eat monkeys in the wettest two months of rainy season, as the forest is filled with fruit and the monkeys become temporary/seasonal vegetarians. The marinade is disgusting and not appropriate for posting in polite company.)

Here are a few farm pics--

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...2557/tpod.html

Stephen-- we cannot allow any plot to lie fallow or we don't have enough food. We use legume rotation--mostly long bean. Corn cobs are used as renewable fuel. We sell them. Don't have much bean straw, just lots of rice straw--see pics.

Coir is the hip new starting medium, and coconut fiber is now a thing of value. You are correct about the acid--I did not boil it when I started seed in it, but I did soak it overnight and the leachate looked like tea.

We are growing Neem trees--they grow in the tropics, but I cannot find Neem oil retail anywhere in SE Asia-- we are studying how to make our own--boiling seeds, letting the oil float to the top. A work in progress.

Thanks for all of your observations!

maupin

[mjc]

If pig manure is the bulk/only manure you have access to, then you really do need to compost it. Any plant matter will do...woodchips/sawdust, paper, anything...

There are two reasons for this...the first is compaction. Pig manure is heavy and tends to compact the soil, if not well decomposed. The second and probably most important, is pig manure can be, second only to dog/cat, a major source of parasites/disease pathogens that can infect humans.

Sacrifice some of that rice straw mulch and interplant with a ground cover of some sort. A low growing grass or grain with the legumes/a low growing legume with the corn. If you were in a more temperate area, I'd say interplant the corn with clover... The manure needs it more than it is needed as a mulch.

As to the need for rock dust...trace minerals. While pH and the N-P-K may be within acceptable ranges, the trace minerals will be depleted over time and rock dusts are a, usually, cheap, slow acting/long term solution.

[dice]

As to the need for rock dust...trace minerals. While pH and the N-P-K may be within acceptable ranges, the trace minerals will be depleted over time and rock dusts are a, usually, cheap, slow acting/long term solution.

Right. If you actually have compost going, rock dust can be
added to that as a grit source for earthworms.

(An ancient study from the 1930s found 30-35% higher
earthworm populations per cubic foot in compost with granite
dust mixed into it than in the same compostable materials
without the grit source. I do not recall how much granite dust
they mixed in by volume, but "a bucketful" mixed into a cubic
yard of compostable materials would probably not be too
much.) The earthworms do not make all of the trace minerals
in the granite dust instantly available, but they do digest some
of it, and it is a good way to add those slow-release trace
minerals without making any significant change in soil pH.

If you do not have compost, the rock dust can simply be
scattered on top of your mulch to add the trace minerals
to the soil in a natural process. It seems to particularly help
tree seedlings and young trees.

[dice]

If you have your low-fiber manure just piled up until you use it,
a lot of the nitrogen in it just evaporates as ammonia. If you
have it mixed with the rice straw mulch, a lot of what would
have evaporated is used instead by bacteria digesting the fiber
in the mulch.

Then you would mulch with the compost instead of putting
the manure and mulch on seperately.

You could try it with a test plot and compare performance
with the traditional method.

[Stepheninky]

To make Neem oil you will need to use alcohol either rubbing alcohol or any 80 or better proof clear drinking grain alcohol such as vodka or the likes if I remember right they make a rice version of moonshine up in the northern mountains (not sure of the legalities of that stuff there) so if you can get some of that it would work well for this. You will soak the chopped up leaves in the alcohol this will help break down the organic matter and pull out the oils in the plant. Then you will strain it off and put the liquid on low heat. The ideal is to get it just hot enough that the alcohol and most of the water will evaporate leaving you with the pure essential oils from the plant. Could be done in an oven as well. Or to be on the safe side in a pan in a pan of water. Once you have that oil you can mix it with 1/2oz of the oil one tsp of a mild dish soap and fill the remainder with warm water (about 1 liter) and mix it up. In this form you will want to use it in about 8 days or it will start to lose some of its potency.

Hope that helps a bit

[habitat_gardener]

This brought to mind some interesting work on soil management in the tropics. For instance, 5 fertility principles
http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory20.html
The most interesting one is the finding that adding any amendments on top of the mulch in the tropics is the most effective way to make sure they reach the plants.

tropical green manures/cover crops
http://www.agroforestry.net/overstory/overstory29.html

I also found this site with some interesting "natural inputs" at the bottom of the page
http://www.thainaturalfarming.com/in...ticle&Id=38076
(I've heard about indigenous microorganisms at a local conference.)

For the monkeys, this is a bit "out there," but decades ago I read one book by Michael Roads (probably Talking with Nature), who was able to have a garden in Australia by telling the wallabies that what was inside the fence was his garden, and everything outside was theirs, and if they came over the fence he'd go after them. The previous landowner, and the next one, were unable to keep the wallabies out of the garden, but Roads claimed that his conversation with the surrounding wildlife set the boundaries and allowed him to have a garden. I've mentioned this idea to (selected) other people and almost always, others tell me they tried something like this and it worked for them. I think it works because it involves acknowledging the existence (coexistence) of other animals, and the act of paying attention to who else lives here is itself important. But in addition, there also has to be some sustenance for the critters who are eating your produce. If your garden is the only food source around -- meaning you've taken over the entire habitat of the other animals -- then there needs to be more negotiation and sharing from the human animals. Anyway, it's worth trying.

Of course, part of the strategy involves observing the behavior of the critters and making it harder or more inconvenient for them to get to your produce.

By the way, I've noticed that when I see early-spring aphids on brassicas, they're almost always confined to just one or two plants and leave the rest alone. I often let them be, as the first food source for the lady beetles and other predators that I want to invite into my garden. So in that case, I pay attention to where predation is concentrated and allow for a reasonable amount.

It's funny, but having a conversation with the wildlife reminds me of a discussion about employees and petty theft. My theory is that if employees feel taken advantage of or taken for granted, it's an "us vs. them" situation and they're more likely to take tools or supplies and see them as "fringe benefits." But if they're respected and acknowledged for their contributions, they're more likely to feel as if they're a part of the enterprise and less likely to act out or steal.

[maupin]

Because of the rainy/dry season planting rhythyms here, the plots are dug ditch-bed-path-bed-ditch-bed and so on. The ditches are over one meter deep. This water conservation practice allows us to grow bed veggies during rainy season and conserve excess monsoon rains in the subsoil for the dry season.

No organic farmer I know in these parts topically applies manures. Rather, it is partially composted and put in the bottom of the ditches to leach into the soil. This way it does not burn the plant roots, and the roots reach for the nutrient when the plant and the nutrient agree it is time to do so.

I like the talking to wallabies idea. Problem is, everybody knows that wallabies, kangaroos, dogs, and hamsters the world over understand English. Monkeys understand Vietnamese and Bahasa Malaysian. So the idea may have merit, but there are cross cultural difficulties that the suggestor may not have contemplated.

I am proud to report that my unrivaled commnunication skills have kept our beds free of wallabies, kangaroos, and hamsters. Dogs may be a tad hearing impaired, so I will talk a little louder in their case.

[dice]

It looks like most of the neem oil from india is cold-pressed
with an "oil mill" or "oil expeller", a machine that ranges from
the size of a cnc milling machine to as big as an elephant,
depending on how much neem seed you need to process at
one time. The interesting question for an organization like yours
is "how did they do it 300 years ago". (Maybe the British have
some documentation on that.)

[TZ-OH6]

Ramial Chipped Wood technology was developed to aid soil building in undeveloped countries and has been tested in USSR, Canada and Tropical
Africa.

http://webapp.ciat.cgiar.org/tsbf_in.../AfNetCh27.pdf


http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/p...er/020608.html


There are several more papers on the internet but they are somewhat difficult to dig out with google searches (might not be on the first page of hits)/


Can't help with parrots or monkeys, the Austrailians have a heck of a time with parrots.

[dice]

A description of early seed oil milling in Pennsylvania:
http://www.engr.psu.edu/MTAH/article...gy_oilmill.htm

One thing was clear from a historic description of the
development of the cotton seed oil industry in
Mississipi (no technology description, so I did not include
the URL): the seed oil cake that remains after oil extraction
is a valuable fertilizer and/or animal feed. When used for
cattle feed, about 90% of the N-P-K in the seed cake is found
in the animal manure, so that is an efficient way to use it
(I do not know if that would still be true when feeding it to
pigs.) One could also mix it into the compost pile or mix it
into the mulch. The composting process tends toward neutral
pH, whether the inputs are acidic or alkaline, so that is one
way to use something like seed meal or post-oil-extraction
seed cake without making significant changes to the soil pH.