Living Soil- 有生命的土壤
A fundamental concept running through the discussions on global food prices, whether it is about increasing food production, raising soil fertility levels or rehabilitating degraded land, is the need for healthy soils. This issue of the LEISA Magazine revisits the importance of healthy and living soils as the basis for sustainable agriculture, healthy people and healthy economies.
Table of contents:
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1 - 2Whether we realise it or not, soil affects each of us in our everyday lives. The food we eat, the farming systems, the foundations of our houses, the roads we walk on – all are affected by the state of the soil. Because it is so fundamental to agriculture, an issue of LEISA Magazine has come out every few years, devoted to the topic of soils. This time around, we look at it from the angle of “living soils”.
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3 - 5written by Didier Orange , Tran Duc Toan , Nguyen Duy Phuong , Nguyen Van Thiet , Paulo Salgado , Clement Floriane , Le Hoa BinhGetting farmers to adopt new technologies to address soil erosion and fertility problems is not easy. In Vietnam, a multidisciplinary research project to improve soil management in traditional mountainous agricultural farming systems managed to attract farmers’ interest and stop soil erosion. This success stems from encouraging farmers, extensionists and researchers to jointly define and implement the project. Their different aims could be followed simultaneously: scientific results for researchers, better agricultural practice for extension workers, and economic success and free choice for farmers.
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6 - 7Excessive use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides has affected soil and water quality in the Jaffna peninsula, Sri Lanka. Students from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Jaffna have been learning about green manures from farmers, and how they have been used to improve soils. Green manures were also used successfully to rehabilitate salinated soils affected by the tsunami. These and other organic practices are now being promoted with and by farmers.
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8 - 10Farmers are more likely to adopt and adapt improved soil management strategies if their efforts lead to an immediate economic benefit. An encouraging policy environment, as well as farmer organisation also stimulates the adoption of conservation practices. In Mexico, farmers are adapting their maize-based cropping systems to conservation agriculture, leading to both higher profits and soil conservation.
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11 - 13Integrating cover crops and green manures helps farmers rehabilitate degraded soils in highland areas. In Ecuador, farmers experimented with this conservation practice. They found that it improved their farming system in many ways, increased productivity in their main crop, decreased weeding time, provided them with an extra crop (for food, fodder, marketing), besides rehabilitating their soils.
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14 - 15written by L. Narayana Reddy , Ken GillerTo help understand different viewpoints on the effectiveness of EM, we asked two professionals for their opinion. Dr. Narayana Reddy is a prize-winning organic farmer (who made the transition from conventional agriculture in 1980), writer and trainer from Bangalore, India. Dr. Ken Giller is professor of Plant Production Systems at the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands, and has extensive experience in soil microbiology research with microbial inoculants.
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16 - 16In semi arid areas such as the Sahelian zone of Africa, many soils have become severely degraded. One extreme form is the bare and crusted soil, which is virtually productively "dead". In Burkina Faso, farmers have responded by applying mulch to atract termites that then help to rehabilitate the soil. A research project shows the importance of termites in breaking up hardened soil and increasing water infiltration. The land became productive enough to farm within months.
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17 - 19Learning groups, composed of community members, university researchers, NGOs and government extension workers, have proved effective at increasing food production and incomes in a rural community in South Africa. Specifically, trench beds have been successfully adopted. Results, as measured by members of these learning groups, include improved soil nutrient and moisture levels, as well as economic benefits. This learning process is now spreading to other communities.
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20 - 21written by Ken GillerTen years ago, soyabeans were promoted with smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe to help offset problems of soil fertility, introduce diversity into cropping systems dominated by maize production, and increase incomes. A mix of soyabeans can now be seen in most smallholder farming areas in suitable agroecologies throughout the country. This success is due to a solid multi-institutional effort that included establishment of local input facilities, as well as market and transport opportunities.
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22 - 24When agricultural researchers visit farms in order to gather information for their research programmes, farmers rarely get proper feedback. Research information on scientific concepts such as soil fertility and nutrient balances is often considered too abstract for them. Researchers in Kenya returned to farmers to discuss their results in the context of Farmer Field Schools. Through the workshops that ensued, they managed to find a common language to bridge the communication gap.
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25 - 27written by Ren JianMengsong village locates at south-western Jinghong city in Xisongpanna, Yunnan province. It is populated by Ani ethnic group with around 2600 people. Growing eco-tea brings main income. Mengsong famers field school was supported by CBIK, carried out in 2008. Four study periods focus on: 1stly, to teach the farmers being able to evaluate tea quality; 2ndly, to teach farmers knowledge about safe usage of chemical pesticide and conservation techniques of traditional rice; 3rdly, learning between farmers peer groups; 4thly, learning between tea retailers and farmers.
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