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Report 1 of 3: Freedom Gardens
- Malawi
Africa is the only continent in which food production has failed to keep up with the growth in population. In Malawi, where there is a shortage of the staple food, maize, hunger and malnutrition result in high infant mortality. Here, some farmers are experimenting with organic farming systems - which do not rely on man-made chemicals - and their techniques are being observed by farmer groups from other countries. The methods being used involve a combination of irrigation, companion planting, composting and soil conservation.
Organic farming
Organic farming and gardening work together with nature, rather than being based on artificial fertilizers and pesticides, both of which can remain in the environment and be dangerous to people and animals. Soil is kept in good, fertile condition by using natural wastes to make compost while pests, diseases and weeds are controlled by natural means such as predators which eat pests or by using pesticides made from plants. Organic farming aims to increase long-term soil fertility and so protect the land for future generations. It helps to ensure that water sources stay clean and safe. As well as producing high quality crops, it uses resources which are in the control of the farmer and so he or she needs less money to buy farm inputs.
Irrigation
All plants need water to survive and in places where natural rainfall in insufficient to supply all the needs of the crops, it is necessary to arrange for the plants to be supplied artificially. During the wet season, when water is plentiful, it can be collected and saved for the times when it will be needed. Then, by carefully controlling the way in which the water is supplied to the crops, water wastage can be kept small so the plants get full benefit.
There are many different irrigation systems available to suit particular conditions. The one used at Freedom Gardens is one which is traditionally used in many parts of the world - the irrigation water is carried to the fields along channels at the highest edge of the land and then along smaller channels made between the rows of plants. The water then soaks into the ground around the plants.
Companion Planting
A technique used at Freedom Gardens to help to control pests is to plant together different kinds of crop which help each other to survive and grow successfully. One of the reasons "companion plants" help each other is because one may deter the pest of its neighbour. For example, many pests avoid garlic so this can be used very effectively for companion planting with many crops.
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Onions help to keep away carrotfly |
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In some cases, it is possible to use a plant which is more attractive to the pest than the crop plant itself. This idea is used in parts of Africa where farmers have found that milkweed planted among vegetables reduces the number of aphids on their crops - simply because the aphids prefer the milkweed to the vegetables.
In a similar way to companion planting, plants can be used to attract predators which will then eat the pests. Bushes and trees left around crop fields provide cover for many useful insects and birds. There are many plants whose flowers will attract predators and encourage them to lay more eggs, so increasing the number of insects which will attack the pests. At Freedom Gardens, marigolds are used for this purpose. Mint and sunflowers are other examples of attractant plants which work in this way to help the farmer.
Composting
If the soil is to continue to provide the nourishment needed by crop plants, it must be kept in good condition and its natural nutrients replaced. Artificial, chemical fertizers can not do this because they only supply the short-term needs of the plant but do not feed the soil itself - so feeding of the next crop with more, expensive chemicals becomes necessary. By returning natural wastes and animal manure to the soil, as well as feeding the plants, the farmer can also improve the structure of the soil so that it retains water more effectively.
A very effective way of using vegetable wastes in this way is by making it into compost. This is made up of plant and animal residues which have been broken down by bacteria. Since this is a natural process, compost is very easy and inexpensive to make and is an effective and long-lasting way of improving soil and crop quality. If the process is well managed, the heat produced as the materials rot will often be enough to kill weed seeds and plant diseases.
Freedom Gardens uses the trench composting system but there are many different ways of making compost, all of which have been devised to suit various waste materials and the climates in which they are used. It is essential in all methods, however, to have a mixture of different kinds of materials – some young, living material and some older, dead material - so that the final product has a good balance of natural carbon and nitrogen which the crop plants will need.
Soil conservation
In order to retain the soil and avoid its loss through erosion by the wind or rain, it helps to grow plants which bind it together. Banana plants and vetiver grass are used for this at Freedom Gardens. Both of these have the additional benefit of providing either a food crop (banana) or a useful farm material in the form of mulch or animal feed (vetiver). Vetiver grass has been used very successfully in more than 50 countries for soil and water conservation. When fully established, a vetiver hedge will hold back surface water and trap any soil which is already being carried in the water.
Other methods of retaining soil include building terraces on steep slopes or using the gentler contours of the land to make flat areas in which rain water will rest until it has soaked naturally into the ground instead of running swiftly down the slope, carrying away the surface soil.
Some further reading:
Soil Management: Compost Production and Use in Tropical and Subtropical Environments (1987) FAO Soils Bulletin 56. FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy
From ITDG Development Bookshop:
Erosion Control in the Tropics: Agrodoc 11. CTA
£5.95 (Agromisa), 1994, ISBN 9 07274 607 4.
Preparation and Use of Compost: Agrodok 8. CTA
£5.95 (Agromisa), 1994, ISBN 9 07274 652 X
For further information on various aspects of organic farming:
Henry Doubleday Research Association
Ryton Organic Gardens
Coventry CV8 3LG
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)24 7630 3517
Fax: +44 (0)24 7663 9229
Email: enquiry@hdra.org.uk
Web site: http://www.hdra.org.uk/
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