Originally published February 8 2006
Organic farming offers hope to poor farmers in Zambia
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Zambezi Times Online discusses the future of organic farming in Zambia, which could prove invaluable to poor resource farmers.
"In developing countries, UNDP (1992) concluded that organic farming methods seem able to provide similar outputs, with less external resources, supplying a similar income per labour day as high input conventional approaches.
At about the same time, a German chemist developed a process which led to the manufacture of nitrogen fertiliser.
Nitrogen fertiliser was needed in large amounts to benefit from the discovery of high-yielding hybrid maize.
The increased agricultural output with no net increase in cultivated area in post 1960s was a result of increased use of modern agriculture, namely: fertiliser, pesticides and farm machinery and this has helped to alleviate hunger in the developed world.
Nevertheless, overuse of pesticides, especially in vegetables and fruits resulted in residues above safety levels and brought to the attention the ill-effects of modern agriculture.
These were nitrate enrichment of ground water and rivers and release of ammonia and nitrous oxide to the atmosphere.
These ill-effects of modern agriculture forced people in rich countries to demand food grown without fertilisers.
In 1947, a soil and health foundation was formed in the USA that was to study production of healthy crops and livestock while maintaining healthy and fertile soils and to link farm produce to health and nutrition.
Organic farming requires certification by accredited agencies and the cost is high for small farmers.
The steps involved in certification are: registration of producers and processing industries, provision of basic information on crop and farm, inspection and verification of the field and processing unit, inspection of production methods and practices by certifying agency.
Crop yields during transition period are low and farmers intending on going into organic farming suffer loss.
There is an urgent need for breeding for populations or varieties adapted for organic production and livestock appropriate to organic farming.
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