Farming & Agriculture

Happiness and Tomatoes

2013-07-30T23:49:00.002+08:00

Happiness is Watching Green Tomatoes Turning Red

Live rock farming

2013-07-29T17:41:00.000+08:00

A LAUTOKA company that established the first commercial coral farm in the world in 1998 has also done the same with live rock, an important component of marine aquariums.

Live rock is manufactured using a mix of Portland cement, old coral rubble and fossilized rock substrate and then colonized with algae and marine organisms by being planted on reefs.

Harvested live rock is used in saltwater aquariums as a natural biological filter.

Walt Smith International, a Navutu-based company, has exported about 790 tonnes of live rock since 2000.

At any one time, the firm is able to plant more than 40 tonnes of this rock in the sea, reinforcing reefs and ensuring sustainable supplies of live rock for export.

The company employs 95 workers at Navutu and about 300 overall, including villagers along the Coral Coast, Yasawa and Vanua Levu.

Managing director Walt Smith said the growth potential of the business and its ability to employ villagers was a big motivator to ensuring the sustainability of live rock farming and exports.

"I have always thought that if I harvest, I should also come up with a way to minimize the harvest by giving back," he said.

FIJI TIMES

Indian farmer promotes 'magic farming'

2013-07-28T22:09:00.004+08:00

A farmer in the northern Indian state of Bihar is using magic shows to promote organic farming, Amarnath Tewary reports from Govindpur village in Muzaffarpur district.

Shreekant Kushwaha, in his late 40s, is a farmer who is a trained magician and has been using his skills to convince farmers in the state to convert to organic farming methods.

In the last few years, he has conducted more than 1,000 magic shows and converted thousands of farmers to organic farming to "increase both their yield and incomes".

"Magic and farming are both science and need use of hands for their execution. Both become obsolete if denied new tricks," he says.

Most of his magic shows begin with some popular trick like making a small ball vanish into air, or pulling a pigeon out of a hat.

"Once I've grabbed the attention of the crowd, I go for the real thing," he says.

"I show them two boxes and tell them that one box has seeds with organic fertiliser while the other has seeds with synthetic fertiliser. Then I put a lid over both the boxes and say let's see which grows faster.

"When the lid is lifted, the seeds treated with organic fertiliser seem to have grown into small plants but those treated with synthetic fertiliser have not grown at all," he says.

"And then I explain why and how it is done."

Fortunes changed

He says most among the audience return home convinced that organic is the way to go.

Mr Kushwaha himself learnt the benefits of organic farming in 2001 from a training camp held in his village by a non-governmental organisation.

He says moving to organic farming changed his fortunes: he grows rice, wheat and more recently, medicinal plants on his farm and yields are high.

Once a poor farmer who could not even afford two daily meals for his family, he now owns a double-storey house, has a beautiful kitchen garden with decorative lights and flowers, a cow, a colour television, a computer and printer and a motorbike.

"I couldn't go to school, but I sent my children to school for a proper education," he says.

"It was all made possible once I started organic farming on my two-acre plot of agricultural land," he says.

"And, now my only mission in life is to promote organic farming."

The idea to promote organic farming with magic shows came to him in 2003 when "at a village agriculture fair I saw a magician pulling in the crowds for his shows and keeping them interested for well over an hour with his tricks".

"But when I approached the magician, he refused to teach me any tricks."

'Magic spell'

Mr Kushwaha did not lose hope and went to meet Ram Ratan Sharma, a famous magician in his area.

While he farmed his land during the day, he learnt magic at night, picking up more than 500 tricks in two years.

"The villagers and even my own family members said I was mad but I kept on," he says.

In 2005, Mr Kushwaha conducted over two dozen magic shows in his village to convince farmers of the benefits of organic farming.

A year later, Govindpur - a village of 150 households with a population of over 1,200 - was declared the first organic village in the state by the Bihar government.

Soon, the government-run State Bank of India adopted the village to provide all facilities to the farmers as they moved to organic farming.

An unlettered farmer who could barely write his name in Hindi, Mr Kushwaha has now been felicitated by several institutions, politicians and local organisations for his "unique experiment of farming with magic".

Today, he gives tips to farmers on how to make organic fertiliser to increase the soil fertility and better their yield.

Farmers Shankar Ram and Rajdeo Singh are all praise for Mr Kushwaha who has done the village proud with his sheer "dedication and determination to convert all of us to organic farming".

Says agriculture expert UK Sharma: "Mr Kushwaha has cast his magic spell on the farmers of the area."

At present though, Mr Kushwaha is worried about the depleting number of cows and buffaloes in the village which, he says, may hamper the move towards organic farming. Cow dung and urine provide valuable fertiliser for organic farming.

"Cattle rearing has become quite expensive these days so many people are moving away from it and migrating from villages to find jobs in the cities," he says. "But then, there is always a new trick in science and magic."

Training and Pruning of Pear Tree

2013-07-28T19:07:00.001+08:00

Pruning is necessary to: (1) develop a desirable tree shape, (2) maintain the tree at a desirable size, (3) make spraying for insect and disease control easier, (4) improve fruit quality by allowing better light penetration, (5) improve tree strength, and (6) encourage branching.

Generally, pear trees are not pruned as much after the third year as are apple trees. Prune the newly set tree (a whip 3-5 feet tall and '/z to 96 inches in diameter) by removing the top one-third just as the buds start to swell in the early spring (Fig. 2).

Summer Pruning

Pruning the first growing season includes the removal of all except the terminal growth and one branch, which forms a 70-90" angle with the trunk (Fig. 3). Dormant

pruning after the first full year of growth includes removal of all branches which form a narrow angle with the trunk (Fig. 4).

Pruning through the third year should small to keep new growth to a minimum, remove all developing branches with less thereby reducing the possibility of fire than 70-90" trunk angles, crossing branches, blight, and branches that are closer than 8-12 inches apart in a whorl up the trunk starting at 12 inches from the soil line

(Fig. 5).

Pruning after the third year should be reduced to as few cuts as possible. Reduce nitrogen application to just enough to produce 2-3 inches of new growth per year.

If the terminal growth exceeds that figure, omit the nitrogen entirely. Summer pruning should include prompt removal of all fire-blighted wood. Prune wood several inches below the blighted area.

Removal of bloom buds prior to bloom on young trees helps to reduce fire blight. Dormant pruning should include removal of all diseased and broken branches. Cuts to

reduce limb rubbing and shading are necessary. However, the cuts should be small to keep new growth to a minimum, thereby reducing the possibility of fire blight

The bleeding tooth fungus

2013-07-28T01:54:00.000+08:00

The bleeding tooth fungus grows in Europe and North America. While young, the fungus looks like it is oozing blood.

The red liquid is actually an anticoagulant. It lives on the roots of conifer trees and exchanges nutrients in a mutually beneficial relationship.

Now, I know that “bleeding tooth” sounds incredibly appetizing, but while they aren’t toxic, they are considered inedible.

‘Ostrich farming has the power to feed the world’

2013-07-27T23:16:00.002+08:00

Ostriches, the most underrated livestock species in Pakistan, have the power to feed the world. The world is witnessing an increasing interest in ostrich breeding and farming because of the wide-ranged of associated benefits attached with it.

“Sindh Board of Investment (SBI) has taken pioneering steps in introducing ostrich farming in Sindh, which later on spread to other parts of the country,” said SBI Chairman Muhammad Zubair Motiwala at a meeting held at SBI’s office.

The demand and prices for ostrich leather and feathers have seldom been better globally and ostrich meat is also increasing sought after internationally for its health qualities.

Motiwala elaborated that ostrich, a flightless bird of African origin, was capable of living in all types of climates and temperatures but was especially at home in dry and hot climates such as those of rural Sindh. It has a long life span, resistance to disease and unparalleled food to weight gain ratio and yields high-quality red meat which is comparable in taste to mutton but is far superior in terms of almost zero fat content and very low cholesterol. “An average ostrich can give 80-100 kilogrammes of meat and its leather is considered of premium quality from which a number of leather products can be manufactured,” Motiwala said adding that feathers of the bird are another derivative which are used in electronics maintenance, fashion industry and other areas.

According to a study conducted by the Pakistan Ostrich Company, Pakistan was ranked in the bottom two among Ostrich producing countries. The study estimates that one hen can generate a revenue of Rs100,000, making it a very profitable opportunity.Moreover, according to the research, Ostrich’s skin is considered to be the main revenue generator as it can be turned into one of the most luxurious of leathers. One value-added hide of the flightless bird can fetch up to 80% of total revenue earned from the animal as leather obtained of 14 square feet area sells for Rs16,000 in the international market. The global ostrich industry needs 20,000 hides annually.

Riazuddin, director general of the SBI said that despite the fact that Sindh had pioneered ostrich farming, other provinces especially Punjab had taken the lead and currently there were more than 6,000 birds compared to only a few hundred in Sindh.

He said that one main reason that deters livestock farmers from ostrich farming was that ostrich had not been designated as livestock in Pakistan thus depriving ostrich farmers of subsidies and support packages. He further said SBI has taken up the case of legal recognition of ostrich with Fisheries and Livestock Department and positive results were expected.

Tahir Latif, CEO of Pakistan Ostrich Company, the pioneering ostrich farmer, said that concessionary imports of chicks and machinery, access to credit, and dissemination of technical know-how about ostrich rearing to new investors are the dire needs of the hour.

He said that Pakistan Ostrich Company was working to set up a hatchery for indigenous breeding of birds and is also offering consultancy services as well as co-operative investment opportunities to new investors.

Published in The Express Tribune,

Tomato Milkshake

2013-07-26T21:56:00.002+08:00

Don't tell me a tomato is "technically a fruit" unless you're willing to drink it in a milkshake

Small farmers, landless labourers too can rear goats

2013-07-26T21:43:00.001+08:00

M. J. PRABU

The Hindu

From time immemorial Indian peasants have always been rearing animals for extra income.

But now all this is changing, with shrinking pasture lands and scarcity of green fodder, rearing farm animals is being considered un-remunerative.

To encourage small farmers and landless labourers to take up goat cultivation without having to spend much, scientists from Peruvannamuzhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) have fine-tuned a technology.

CAREFUL PLANNING

“Our veterinary experts, through careful planning and breeding charts, have been able to fully exploit the reproductive efficiency of female goats. In a large herd, synchronization of estrus cycle by administering PGF2 alpha injection and timely breeding by using good quality frozen semen or natural service by superior male enhances not only conception rate for a female goat, but also the farmer can bring most of the females in a herd to deliver (kidding) at a specified period. In a herd of 50 animals, we can bring 10 or 20 goats to deliver in about 150 days at a time by this method. It is a boon to the farming community,” says Dr. M. Anandaraj, Director of the institute.

The institute has also formulated a technique for raising the goat kids. After 15-30 days the kids are housed inside a shed that is made of bamboo or wood with plenty of sunlight and ventilation for 120-140 days before being sold.

ONCE A MONTH

Once in a month the kids are also allowed to suckle from its mother 2-3 times a day before completely weaning them away.

Animals grown under this method attain 25-33 kg of body weight in 4-5 months compared to those animals grown under conventional method that attain only 10 kg in six months.

Initially the kids after being weaned away from their mother are fed small quantities of concentrated feed prepared specifically by the institute's experts.

Depending on the consumption, the feed quantity is slowly increased. Additionally liver tonics mixed with fish oil are also given to increase appetite and aid good healthy growth.

Clean water is made available all through the day.

The expense for feeding one kid comes to about Rs.1,200 a month and a net income of Rs.5,000 to Rs.7,000 can be got in some months by selling the kids.

This feed is also available in the market in some commercial brand names and farmers can also make them by mixing rice, wheat, maize, horsegram etc.

CONTACT

“Farmers can contact the institute at the address given below to clarify their doubts and learn more about this,” says Dr. S. Shanmughavel, animal science specialist of the Institute.

Various women self help groups and several individual farmers in Kozhikode district, Kerala, have started to rear goats in this method for the past few years.

Low cost, better return and easy management are some of the favourable factors that motivate farmers to take up this technique.

This has become a flagship programme of our Kendra because it helps rear more number of goats in a short span of time.

“The biggest advantage is that those who have only few cents of land can also grow goats. We need not spent much time grazing them out in the open. Managing a dozen goats is not a big task now for landless workers or small farmers,” says Dr. Shanmughavel

SUCCESS

The success of this technology is not confined to Kerala alone. Farmers from other states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat are visiting the Institute to learn more about this method.

For more details readers can contact Dr. S. Shanmughavel, Subject Matter Specialist (Animal Sciences), Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Peruvannamuzhi Post, Kozhikode: 673 528, Kerala, email: kvk@spices.res.in, Phone:0496-2662372. and also log on to YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/iisrcalicut) to watch a documentary film on broiler goat rearing practice.

Farming looks mighty easy

2013-07-26T06:55:00.003+08:00

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the corn field. Eisenhower, Dwight D.

The secret life of urban bee-keeping in Lithuania

2013-07-26T04:38:00.002+08:00

Lithuania Tribune

To my fascination, I was once told that most people in Lithuania have a link somewhere in their history to bee-keeping, if you look back far enough into the generations.

“Most people in Lithuania can trace their roots back to beekeeping at some point in their family history,” says co-owner of Balžeko Bitės Andrė Balžekienė, an independent honey retailer that is certainly bucking the trend considering the hysteria currently surrounding the fate of Europe’s bees.

In light of the adoption of a two-year EU-wide restriction on three main pesticides

(clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) found to be harmful to bees, and entering into force in December 2013, one would arrive at the conclusion that, as calamitously reported by Reuters amongst others, “the bees are dying,” and that save banning these few pesticides, irreparable damage has already been done.

Whether you believe the panic or not, bee-keeping is taking off in Lithuania, and, thanks to a renewed European interest in apiaries, Vilnius is gathering momentum and becoming a hub of urban bee-keeping.

Bee-keeping in other areas of Lithuania is well documented, with the Lithuanian Museum of Ancient Beekeeping (Senovinės Bitininkystės Muziejus), near Stripeikiai in the north-east, exhibiting the history of bee-keeping in the area.

Yet bee-keeping in urban centres such as Vilnius is, for the moment, less well known.

Through the family of Andrė’s husband, Tomas Balžekas, who is also co-owner of Balžeko Bitės, they have inherited the family apiary, and it is through this that they have been able to branch out into business.

With Balžeko Bitės at the forefront of the new generation of Lithuanian bee-keeping, however, things seem to be looking on the brighter side, and their hives are thriving at her home in Uzupis, in the north-eastern European climate of Vilnius.

“There is concern about bee conservation yes, but our bees are happy,” Andrė says. “We have no problems in terms of our bee population. We check them twice a month during summer, and they are doing fine. During the winter, we let them sleep and rest.”

Lithuania is not exactly internationally known for its bee population, or honey, so where else stands out as being honey producers that the rest of the world does not know about?

“I’ve tried honey from various European nations: Italy, Greece, even Poland. But, naturally, I prefer Lithuanian honey,” she says.

Balžeko Bitės will be staying small-scale, and despite gaining manufacturing deals to make honey-derived products such as lip balm, as well as cultivation of honey for consumption, Andrė does not see the business expanding at a wanton rate anytime soon.

“We don’t want to commercialise ourselves too much, as we don’t want to end up selling out,” she reflects.

By now very familiar with them, Andrė divulges some secrets about the enigmatic life of bees, and their alleged sixth sense.

“I’ll tell you something interesting about bees: you must be a good person if you are able to keep them, because they can sense your personality, and your aura… my young daughter can handle them quite well, like a natural!”

Bee-keeping has been accumulating some eminent fans, and according to Andrė, amongst them is Lithuania’s very own President.

“Even President Dalia Grybauskaite has been bee-keeping. She was given a hive as a gift, and now gives out honey as a gift herself to important guests of the EU Presidency,” she reveals.

Bringing the Lithuanian bee-keeping of the past full circle through to today’s urban-dwelling generations, Balžeko Bitės is sure to keep the interest in bee conservation alive for future consumers of honey, and its manufactured by-products.

Here’s to hoping that European bees, and the unquestionably time-resistant practice of bee-keeping, will be around for much longer with Balžeko Bitės.

Non GMO Shopping Guide

2013-07-25T20:41:00.001+08:00

Biofuel projects in Africa ignite land disputes

2013-07-25T06:08:00.003+08:00

By Robyn Dixon

Los Angeles Times/MCT

With its leaf-thatched mud huts, bad roads, chronic unemployment, crushing poverty and vast tracts of “underutilised” land, the Tana River Delta in eastern Kenya seemed the perfect place for a foreign businessman looking to grow crops that could be turned into biofuel.

Canadian David McClure believed the project, which involved leasing more than 600 square miles at a minuscule cost, would be both profitable and humanitarian.

But McClure underestimated local resistance and deep sensitivity about land in a region where ethnic violence linked to land use has flared repeatedly. Four years after launching the project, his company pulled out, leaving McClure bitter and defeated, accusing the Kenyan government of betraying Kenyans by frustrating his plans.

He was not alone in seeing Africa as an exciting new frontier for biofuel production, with cheap land that, to an outside eye, looks wasted.

Millions of acres have been snapped up across the continent by foreigners for farming biofuel plants, such as the oil-producing jatropha, which McClure wanted to grow. These projects are usually pitched by companies as being good for the environment and good for poor Africans.

But biofuel crop projects have been attacked by environmental and humanitarian activists as doing more harm than good, often replacing food crops that are badly needed in poor countries or destroying natural habitat like forests.

Demand for biofuel is driven by European Union regulations requiring that 10% of energy consumption in member states come from renewable sources by 2020. A British humanitarian organisation, Action Aid, reported last year that more than 193,000 square miles had been planted with biofuel plants globally, much of it in Africa.

Foreign biofuel companies promise benefits such as jobs, but their projects have driven rural communities in some of the world’s poorest countries off their land, offering only modest benefits in return, critics say.

Jatropha is a shrubby flowering plant whose seeds can be processed to make diesel. Such biofuel crops need vast tracts of cheap land to be viable, hence Africa’s attraction for foreign investors. A 2011 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and United Nations agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation, linked sharp rises in food prices in poor countries to the demand for land to plant biofuel crops.

McClure, chief executive of Bedford Biofuels, a Canadian company, thought the Tana River Delta project would be popular with residents and win government support as it converted a vast swath of semiarid land to corporate farmland.

“Four years of our blood, sweat and tears to feed babies went into that project. It was a beautiful humanitarian project. We were going to reforest semiarid land with a crop. We had interest from major investors,” McClure said in a phone interview from Canada.

The Tana River flows like a lazy, mud-coloured python through a region of dry, forlorn-looking bush. About 250,000 people live in its delta, farming, herding cattle and fishing. To McClure, the land was unused and ripe for development. To locals, it was at the heart of years of conflict over grazing rights and subsistence farming.

Dahir Bile, 42, a tall thin man wearing small white skullcap and a colorful wrap around his waist, has lived in the remote sandy village of Dida Ade all his life, in a circular mud hut thatched with leaves and fenced with forbidding spiky plants, The smell of wood smoke drifts through Dida Ade as evening falls, and herdsmen bring their long-horned grey zebu cattle home. He was shocked when two local politicians from a rival tribe arrived, telling him the biofuel project was coming and his village would have to be relocated.

It’s unclear how many people would have been displaced. The company said that people would be moved voluntarily and that efforts would be made to work around settlements where possible. It had no estimate of how many people would have been affected.

Bedford Biofuels leased more than 600 square miles of land that was supposed to be held in trust for the community, but is actually controlled by a few powerful people, according to activists from a nongovernmental environmental protection group, Nature Kenya.

The company agreed to pay the equivalent of about $1.25 per acre per year, planted a pilot crop, but withdrew in recent months, citing last year’s ethnic violence between the Orma tribe (herders) and the Pokomo (farmers) over grazing rights. More than 200 people died in the clashes.

The project, says Bile (who is of another tribe, the Wardei, which is close to the Orma), was presented as a fait accompli by the two politicians, both of the Pokomo tribe.

“We were just told the project was going ahead and we were going to be moved and no one told us where we would be taken,” he said. “It’s like I was being told to climb into the heavens without a ladder.”

Bile said Bedford Biofuel promised jobs and a better life. But he feared that if he and his people were moved, they would lose their traditional grazing rights. “I couldn’t accept,” he said. “It was like do or die. Even if they killed me, I just decided I’d never move.”

Had the project continued, said Frank Kagema, an activist with Nature Kenya, it would have escalated conflict over land in the region, because herders would have been barred from grazing their stock in large areas of the delta.

Last year, the delta was designated a wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention, a global treaty on wetland preservation. “When this vast wetland is left undisturbed, it acts like a sponge, absorbing floods, storing water and remaining green during the dry season. In times of flood, the delta fills with water and water birds,” according to Nature Kenya. In the dry season, when the sun cooks the land like an oven, cattle and goats graze in the delta.

“If jatropha were to come, it could result in total disruption to the ecology,” Kagema said. “Converting this bush area into a monoculture would destroy biodiversity.”

He doubted that the benefit of extra jobs for a few would outweigh the value of the land for farmers, livestock growers and fishermen.

Several other international companies that tried to establish biofuel projects on the Kenyan coast have pulled out, including an Italian company that planned to develop 193 square miles of jatropha, displacing about 20,000 people, and a British firm that abandoned a planned 108-square-mile project after encountering opposition from environmentalists and communities.

But foreign biofuel development has gone forward elsewhere in Africa despite opposition from communities, activists and international environmental organizations.

Greenpeace International has criticised New York-based Herakles Farms for its 280-square-mile palm oil project in a part of Cameroon that the environmental organisation says is almost 90% dense natural forest.

“The project would remove land and resources that are critical to the livelihoods of local communities and could disastrously impact biodiversity as well as producing millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions,” Greenpeace said in February.

Herakles Farms responded that “there has never been a field study of the flora and fauna in our legal project area to demonstrate that it is of high conservation value,” and that it was not important habitat for endangered great apes or forest elephants.

Other foreign land projects are under fire in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, Ghana, Nigeria and Benin.

Kagema said companies that find too much community resistance over land grabs can move elsewhere in Africa where corrupt governments could usher projects through.

“People have no say,” Kagema said. “We have corruption and the community is not empowered.” —

Lawn Mowers On Roof Garden

2013-07-25T05:32:00.002+08:00

Vermicompost: a down-to-earth solution to cut input costs

2013-07-24T17:29:00.000+08:00

M. J. PRABU

The Hindu

SIMPLE IDEA: Selecting the right kind of earthworms for making compost is important. Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

Agriculture based only on chemical fertilizers and other chemical inputs is not desirable because constant use of such inputs causes soil infertility and affects productivity.

“Compared with 10-15 years back, many farmers are now becoming increasingly aware about the harmful effect of chemical use to grow their crops, and are moving towards alternative sustainable solutions.

Healthy soil

“Soils should be alive and home to millions of beneficial bacteria and other micro organisms to make them healthy and for crops to yield well. The soil must be manured in such a way that the activities of beneficial soil organisms necessary for recycling plant nutrients and producing humus are not inhibited,” says Dr. G.Rajaraman, Senior Research Fellow, Directorate of Natural Resource Management,Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.

The University also provides training to interested farmers in selecting the right kind of worms and also in erecting compost sheds for manure production.

The first step for vermicomposting is selection of right kinds of earthworms. Four varieties of earthworms are available in India and commonly used for composting.

These worms are called ‘manure worms.’ They can be grown on animal dung, poultry droppings, vegetable and other kinds of biodegradable wastes. The worm-casts or excretions of these worms make up the much needed organic manure, according to him. One worm weighs about 0.5-0.6 grams and would consume wastes almost equal to its body weight producing casts of about the same weight in a day. If one million worms exist in an acre, the casts they produce in that area would be about 500 kg a day per acre that is approximately 200 tonnes of manure a year.

Essential nutrients

The worm casts contain all the essential nutrients and good amounts of organic matter and growth regulators which make the soil productive.

“There is no fixed model or standard procedure for manufacturing vermicompost. Any wooden, plastic, card board or cement container of any size can be used for this. All one requires is the interest and drive to make and use it,” says Dr. Rajaraman.

Dried cattle, sheep, horse, pig dungs or poultry droppings vegetable wastes (shredded into small pieces) form ideal food for the worms. Cattle dung mixed with water can be sprinkled if available. Wheat bran, grain bran and vegetable wastes, when added to dung in 1:1 ratio, enhances the quality of the compost production.

The feed must be placed uniformly in a layer on the culture bed and replenished as and when it disappears from the surface.

The composting process would be over in 45- 60 days. We can see the change of the compost material into dark brown coffee powder like colour.

The compost material will be friable when we press it between our fingers. When the compost is ready, watering must be stopped for 2-3 days, and the entire worms move towards the bottom where some moisture would still be available.

Spreading awareness

“Our University has been a playing a important role to spread awareness about the importance of using vermicompost for cultivation.

Today we have been effectively able to encourage several hundred farmers in Thondamuthur, Udumalapettai, Nagapattinam, Annur and Palani areas in and around Coimbatore to take up vermicompost manufacture and application. Most of the farmers have 8- 10 acres and grow a variety of crops like bhendi, chillies, tomatoes, plantain and flowers.

Some years back these farmers used only inorganic fertilizers as inputs and spent more than Rs.2,000-3,5000 as input cost for their crops.

“But today they are all manufacturing their own compost and using it and have been able to save a considerable amount on their input cost,” explains Dr. Rajaraman.

Seeing is believing

And adds, “Initially these farmers did not accept the idea that mere application of vermicompost could hep them cut input cost and help get a better yield.

We made them interact with a model farmer from Pullavarayankudikadu in Tiruvarur district who moved into sustainable farming from inorganic practices.

The farmer convinced others to take up vermicompost production and application as he is able to get a good yield from his seven acres in which he grows a variety of crops.”

For more information contact Dr. Rajaraman, at email: hortraja@gmail.com, Mobiles 09486086460 and 09487678489.

Vertical succulent plantings on surfboard

2013-07-24T16:36:00.000+08:00

Sky is the limit: Karachi takes its gardens into the air

2013-07-20T06:34:00.003+08:00

The city’s first environment museum boasts ‘gardens in the air’ at Gulshan-e-Iqbal, the plants are hanging at various heights reaching up to nearly 10 feet. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

KARACHI: As the buildings in Karachi reach new heights, the gardens in the city too have left the grounds for the skies above.

The city’s first environment museum boasts ‘gardens in the air’ in a place surrounded by makeshift homes, open sewers, and wild bushes. Nargis Latif, the founding CEO of Gulbahao Trust – the organisation behind this unique gardening style – believes that sky is the limit.

“If there can be homes in the air in the form of big plazas, why there can’t be gardens?” she pointed out, adding that the city lacks enough land for healthy environmental projects. “[In that case] we always have the skies to grow plants.”

At the environment museum in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, the plants are hanging at various heights, reaching up to nearly 10 feet. Most of the plantation included compost, recycled through waste, where wheat and spinach are grown above the ground. “Mud, dump, waste, we will take all the filth out of the city,” said an excited Latif, at the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

“We make compost out of waste and then grow plants from it in the air,” she said. Gulbahao is a non-government organisation that collects dumped waste and recycles it into products for daily usage.

During a presentation on the products made from the waste, Latif explained that the idea behind the project was to create more awareness. “The idea was to show the people what could be achieved if waste, instead of being dumped, is given to organisations working to recycle them,” said Latif, who has an MSc degree in Botany from the University of Karachi.

Latif was aware of the handicrafts being made through waste but she wanted to produce something more useful. She said that they can use waste to make waterproof roofs, water reservoirs, portable homes and even furniture.

Waste not

The museum also has a Chandi Ghar, a large silver room, which has been made entirely from waste blocks and flex panels. This entire room took only five hours to set up, Latif said. With the help of waste wood and old cloth, she also showed how these items could be a cheap fuel pack for thermal power plants and could be used as an alternative to coal for burning in furnaces.

Even pure mineral water could be prepared easily at home with ‘Paaki Paani’, she said, as she explained how only a couple of transparent plastic bottles were filled with tap water and left under the sun for a couple of hours. “This makes it free from germs retaining the mineral content and it is better than boiled water used at homes,” she said. “The West cannot do this because they don’t have the exposure of sunlight like we have.”

Gulbahao Trust aims to produce commercially viable products. With their instant compost, wet garbage, vegetable and fruit peels, and leaves were used to produce organic compost, explained Hannan, a PhD student at the University of Karachi, who was working with Gulbahao Trust. “The process takes a day, while traditional organic compost takes four to six months,” he said.

The other environmental friendly projects on display were the garbage and gold bank – a financial institution of the future where separated dry garbage was cashed in. Cattle Feed was made through properly dried used vegetables and fruit peel and could be used to feed farm animals. As an alternative building material, the organisation had waste blocks made of compressed clean waste comprising of shopping bags and wrappers.

“We have indulged ourselves in cleaning the environment,” Latif said. “We should deal with Saudi Arabia by providing them with roof solutions during Hajj in exchange for petrol,” she suggested.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2013.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible

2013-07-20T00:10:00.000+08:00

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, 2nd Edition [Paperback]
Edward C. Smith (Author)

The invaluable resource for home food gardeners! Ed Smith's W-O-R-D system has helped countless gardeners grow an abundance of vegetables and herbs. And those tomatoes and zucchini and basil and cucumbers have nourished countless families, neighbors, and friends with delicious, fresh produce. The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is essential reading for locavores in every corner of North America!

Everything you loved about the first edition of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is still here: friendly, accessible language; full-color photography; comprehensive vegetable specific information in the A-to-Z section; ahead-of-its-time commitment to organic methods; and much more.

Now, Ed Smith is back with a 10th Anniversary Edition for the next generation of vegetable gardeners. New to this edition is coverage of 15 additional vegetables, including an expanded section on salad greens and more European and Asian vegetables. Readers will also find growing information on more fruits and herbs, new cultivar photographs in many vegetable entries, and a much-requested section on extending the season into the winter months. No matter how cold the climate, growers can bring herbs indoors and keep hardy greens alive in cold frames or hoop houses.

The impulse to grow vegetables is even stronger in 2009 than it was in 2000, when Storey published The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible. The financial and environmental costs of fossil fuels raise urgent questions: How far should we be shipping food? What are the health costs of petroleum-based pesticides and herbicides? Do we have to rely on megafarms that use gasoline-powered machinery to grow and harvest crops? With every difficult question, more people think, "Maybe I should grow a few vegetables of my own." This book will continue to answer all their vegetable gardening questions.

Praise for the First Edition:

"In every small town, there is a vegetable garden that people go out of the way to walk past. Smith is the guy who grew that garden." — Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times Book Review

"An abundance of photographs . . . visually bolster the techniques described, while frequent subheads, sidebars, and information-packed photo captions make the layout user-friendly . . . [Smith's] book is thorough and infused with practical wisdom and a dry Vermont humor that should endear him to readers." — Publisher’s Weekly

"Smith . . . clearly explains everything novice and experienced gardeners need to know to grow vegetables and herbs. . . . " — Library Journal

"this book will answer all your questions as well as put you on the path to an abundant harvest. As a bonus, anecdotes and stories make this informative book fun to read." - New York Newsday

Major GM food company Monsanto 'pulls out of Europe'

2013-07-19T20:14:00.002+08:00

Monsanto, one of the world's biggest and best known genetically modified crops companies, is effectively pulling out of Europe, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

The news is a major blow to the nascent British GM industry which ministers have been championing this year as fears grow about food security.

Monsanto, whose name is synonymous with GM crops, confirmed that it is withdrawing all of its EU applications for approval for new crops.

The decision is understood to affect as many as 10 applications for approval for new GM crops. It is understood that Monsanto is pulling all of its applications for crops in frustration at delays over clearing existing crops at EU level.

It does not affect clearance for an existing crop grown from GM seeds in Portugal and Spain.

Monsanto currently sells only one biotech seed product in Europe — a biotech corn which is modified to be resistant to a destructive pest called the European corn borer. It accounts for less than one per cent of the corn grown in the EU.

A company source pointed to the fact that the EU has not approved a new GM crop for cultivation since 1998, adding that it "currently has suspended the progression of cultivation files towards decisions for political reasons".

The source added: "As the EU today is effectively a conventional seed market we have been progressively de-emphasising cultivation of biotech crops in Europe.

"Amongst other things, this means we are no longer seeking approval to commercialise biotech seeds in the EU. We intend to withdraw pending regulatory applications for commercial cultivation of new biotech crops in the EU."

A Monsanto spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: "Monsanto´s business in Europe is very strong and growing. In order to better serve farmers in Europe we will be investing several hundred million dollars in Europe over a decade to expand our conventional seed production and breeding.

"In parallel, biotech crops are highly successful in the rest of the world. In order to fully support both of these success stories, we will no longer be pursuing approvals for cultivation of new biotech crops in Europe.

"Instead, we will focus on enabling imports of biotech crops into the EU and the growth of our current business there."

Monsanto is planning to invest hundreds million dollars in Europe through the end of the decade including €225 million ($300 million) in corn production plant expansions that are already under way in France, Hungary,

Romania and Turkey, creating more than 150 new full-time jobs and many more seasonal jobs.

The news comes just as the Government, led by Environment secretary Owen Paterson and Science minister David Willetts, lead a major push to persuade Britons to eat more GM food.

Temperature Control in Brooders

2013-07-18T21:07:00.002+08:00

Temperature control is important to chicks, particularly in the first three weeks of life. Brooder rings should provide adequate space for the chicks to select a comfortable temperature. If the chicks are too cold, they will become chilled and uncomfortable, and will not eat or drink. If the chicks are too hot, they will become dehydrated.

Starting temperature requirements for all poultry species are similar. Initial brooding temperature, at the birds' level, should be 35 degrees Celcius (C), and reduced by approximately 3 C per week until 21 C is reached. Temperatures may be lowered earlier for waterfowl. If the whole room is heated and there are no heat lamps, the initial brooding temperatures should be slightly lower (30 to 33 C). After six weeks of age, temperatures between 18 and 21 C are desirable.

These brooding temperature guidelines should be adjusted according to observations of the birds. The behaviour and sounds of the chicks will indicate their comfort level. Comfortable birds will be evenly spaced around the pen and will make soft "cheeping" noises. Cold birds will huddle in the warmest part of the pen and cheep loudly.

If the birds are too hot, they will generally be positioned against the walls away from the heat source, and will be panting or possibly sitting with their wings outstretched and feathers fluffed out. The chicks will do a better job than a thermometer of telling you about their comfort level. The diagrams below, reprinted from the Ross Broiler Management Manual, published by Aviagen Limited of the United Kingdom, show how birds will move away or towards the heat lamp if they are hot or cold. Preventing drafts is also important, as young chicks are easily chilled.

Ascites (or water-belly) in broiler chickens can be attributed to cool temperatures early in the brooding period. This disease can cause high mortality and inedible carcasses at slaughter.

Red sheep take to the hills in Scotland

2013-07-17T22:02:00.001+08:00

A flock of red sheep has been released on a hillside by the M8 in West Lothian.

Local farmer Andrew Jack, who owns the flock, has spray-painted the creatures to entertain passing motorists.

The dye is animal-friendly and is said to not cause the sheep any harm or distress.

The flock will remain coloured red until it is sheared in a month's time.

Mr Jack has released some red sheep every spring since 2007. The idea originated with the local Pyramid Business Park.

Speaking in 2007, Mr Jack noted the animals were "causing quite a stir with passers-by. It is a bit of fun and it does brighten things up.

"It was a bit messy and it really did take a while, but they look fantastic.

Effects of Sodium Bicarbonate on Plant Growth

2013-07-17T16:53:00.001+08:00

By Giselle Diamond,

eHow Contributor

Sodium bicarbonate is more commonly known as baking soda. It has been used for many different purposes, including for its benefits to plants. Baking soda is used to keep mold from growing on plants and protect them from other harmful fungal diseases. Baking soda is helpful in testing the pH level of the soil to make sure your plant is set in the best environment.

Features

Each plant grows best at a certain pH level in its surrounding soil. The soil acidity and the makeup of nutrients varies not only around the world but even in different parts of the same garden because of the amount of sunlight and rocks and other materials in those areas and whether plants had previously grown there. Test the soil's pH level to determine that your seedlings and plants are properly placed. To do this, collect 1 tbsp. of the soil you wish to test and then add a dash of baking soda. If this results in a hissing noise, the soil has a pH level of five or lower and is considered acidic.

Potential

Plants that require a more acidic soil include geraniums, begonias, hydrangeas and tomatoes. For optimum growth of these and other acidic-preferring plants, add a small amount of baking soda to their regular watering routines. Adding a small amount of baking soda to a few cups of water once a month will keep the soil at an appropriate level.

Considerations

Baking soda is also used for indoor plants and plants in clay pots. The sodium bicarbonate acts as a preservative to the potting soil and helps it retain its nutrients and resilience. The baking soda, when used for this purpose, is added before the soil or the plant and is thinly coated to the inside surface of the pot. The potting soil is then added along with the plant, and the sodium bicarbonate will improve the growth of

the planted flower or seedling.

Function

Baking soda is also a remedy to any mold or mildew that is growing on the leaves or other parts of your plants. Add 1 tbsp. baking soda to 4 cups of water and 1/2 tsp. of liquid soap. Put these ingredients in a spray bottle. Gently mist the infected plants on every surface, including the undersides. This process should be repeated every two weeks until the plant is devoid of any mildew or mold.

Warnings

Some plants can't handle any kind of baking soda solutions. If you are unsure, test your plant's tolerance by applying a very small amount of the sodium bicarbonate water solution to a few leaves. If the leaves burn or the plant shows signs of weakening, do not proceed with any further applications. For all plants, it is a good idea to thoroughly water them as normal in the days preceding a baking soda treatment. Also, spray them in the morning or early evening to avoid direct sunlight.

How robots may affect farming's future

2013-07-16T21:40:00.001+08:00

New technologies could make American agriculture more efficient, cutting the number of workers needed and having an impact on the immigration debate.

By Bruce Kennedy

Associated Press

Mechanization has helped make America's agricultural success story possible. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says our farm output was 170% above 1948 levels in 2009 and has been growing at an average annual rate of 1.63%.

That increased productivity is a historic marvel -- brought around in part by science, technology and generations of dedicated and passionate agricultural workers.

Nearly all of our food is, in some way, machine-harvested. The exception to that rule has been market-ready fresh produce -- especially delicate and easily bruised fruits and vegetables harvested manually by field laborers.

But that may be changing, as robotics experts develop new machinery that's not only ground-breaking, both figuratively and literally, but could also change the future of the nation's migrant farm worker labor force.

The Associated Press recently reported on a "lettuce bot" being tested in California's Salinas Valley. It uses video cameras and visual-recognition software and can do the work of 20 manual laborers as it quickly thins out lettuce seedlings.

Caption: A migrant farm worker from Mexico harvests organic zucchini while working at the Grant Family Farms on September 3, 2010 in Wellington, Colorado. The farm, the largest organic vegetable farm outside of California, hires some 250 immigrant workers during the peak harvest season. Owner Andy Grant lamented that the issue of illegal immigration has become politicized nationally. 'They feed America,' he said. 'They should not be victimized.' Grant said his workers start at $7.25, which is the minimum wage in Colorado

The company behind Lettuce Bot, Blue River Technology of Mountain View, Calif., has raised more than $3 million in venture capital, and it plans to develop weeding and harvesting machines. The Spanish company Agrobot, meanwhile, is testing a strawberry harvester in Southern California, and Vision Robotics of San Diego is working on a device that prunes wine grapes.

But machines have yet to match humans when it comes to harvesting fruit and identifying which fruit is ready for market.

"The hand-eye coordination workers have is really amazing, and they can pick incredibly fast," Daniel Schmoldt with the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture told the wire service. "To replicate that in a machine, at the speed humans do and in an economical manner, we're still pretty far away."

The need for further automation of fresh produce is being driven by a variety of factors -- including growing global demand for food and agricultural competition from other countries. There are also concerns about how changes in immigration laws could affect the estimated 3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the U.S. -- about 72% of whom are foreign-born, according to the National Center for Farmworker Health.

Farmworker advocates say mechanization would not only mean fewer jobs, but it could also take away an important human element when it comes to guaranteeing food safety.

"The fundamental question for consumers is who and, now, what do you want picking your food: a machine or a human," Erik Nicholson, national vice president of the United Farm Workers of America, told The AP.

How to Kill A Tree

2013-07-15T18:55:00.002+08:00

Site and Soil Selection For Pear

2013-07-15T06:01:00.000+08:00

Pears, like other tree fruits, require deep, well-drained, fertile soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. Pears may grow on heavier soils and are a little more tolerant of poorer soil drainage than apples, but they still will not perform well on heavy, wet soils.

A frost-free location is of prime importance. Pears bloom earlier in the spring than apples, so frost damage can be a real hazard.

Not only will a site lying higher than the surrounding area provide reasonable frost protection, but it will also permit the foliage to dry quickly following dews and rains. This will reduce the severity of leaf diseases which thrive when humidity or rainfall or both occur over prolonged periods.

Since the use of water for frost control has worked reasonably well on apples, a site with water available for irrigation should increase the chances of an annual crop of pears.

Live Trapping Tips

2013-07-15T03:44:00.000+08:00

Live traps can be purchased at many garden centers, feed & seed stores and hardware stores. There are also many locations where traps may be rented.

Successful use of traps is dependent on using a trap of appropriate size and using bait that is attractive to what you are trying to capture. Many nuisance animals are easy to capture if the trap is properly set but become nearly impossible to capture if you miss the first time.

The following tips can increase your chances of success:

Use a trap that is large enough for the animal to go in and turn around. If the trap is so small that the animal has to back out it will be much more reluctant to go inside.
Put the trap where the animal feels more secure (under the deck rather than on top; along the fence rather than in the middle of the yard, etc)
Use a bait that is attractive to your target animal but not so attractive to non-target animals (corn for raccoon trapping to avoid capturing all the neighborhood cats)
Bait placement is important for some animals. Place bait in the trap at the far end. For animals reluctant to enter the trap, small pieces of bait placed at the trap doorway will help guide them in. Place only a small amount of bait in the doorway so they will still be hungry enough to go after the main bait.
Make sure animal can not reach bait through the sides of the trap. Raccoons will sometimes reach over the trip plate and pick up the bait without stepping on the plate. Another trick raccoons use is to roll the trap around until the bait falls out. For raccoons you might need to secure the bait to the cage so it can’t be lifted out and you may want to stake the trap down or wedge it between cinder blocks so that it can’t be rolled over.

Bait Recommendations:

Mink: Chicken entrails, fresh fish, liver.
Nutria: Vegetables, apple slices, carrots.
Opossum: Vegetables, apple slices, canned pet food.
Porcupine: Vegetables, apple slices.
Rabbit: Vegetables, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, bread.
Raccoon: Fish, fresh or canned corn, pet food.
Skunk: Chicken entrails, fresh or canned fish, canned pet food.
Squirrel: Nuts, peanut butter, bread.
Weasel: Fish, liver, chicken entrails

Animal Trapping and Handling:

Check the trap daily and more frequently if possible.
Don’t keep animal in the trap any longer than necessary. If you must keep an animal in the trap for several hours, darken the trap and provide water.
Calm the animal by darkening the trap with a tarp or box. Be sure to provide adequate ventilation.
Don’t expose trapped animals to excessive heat or cold.
Don’t allow pets to harass animals in the trap.
If you release the animal, do so where suitable habitat exist where it will not create a problem for someone else.
If the animal is to be disposed of, do so humanely.
Any animal in a trap may bite – be careful!

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife