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[SANET-MG] Brother Paul.s organic farm
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BrPaulsOrganicFarm.phpISIS Press Release 04/11/05
Br. Paul's Organic Cotton and Vegetable Farm
Jesuit brother breaks all the rules he learned in agricultural college,
and shows how to bring food security to the world
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Organic cotton is possible and highly profitable
Brother Paul Desmarais of the Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre of
Lusaka in Zambia is a happy man. He has just demonstrated that cotton
can be grown organically, and furthermore, at yields up to more than
twice the national average. That is quite an achievement as cotton is
notorious for consuming the most agrochemicals of any crop, some 21
percent of that consumed worldwide; and most people have been led to
believe that cotton cannot be grown without chemical sprays.
“I am confident that anyone can grow cotton organically in Zambia”, says
Br. Paul, beaming from ear to ear. You need to do only two things:
increase the fertility of the soil with organic matter, and put extra
local plant species into the cotton fields to control insect pests.”
Plants that are sick or doing poorly will be the first to succumb to
insect pests; so keeping a crop healthy with fertile soil reduces insect
attacks.
The species inter-planted with the cotton crop are those that attract
pests away from the cotton crop or beneficial predators, or provide home
for beneficial predators; many species serving both purposes. For
example, munsale (sweet sorghum) attracts bollworm and aphids as well as
a host of beneficial insects; nyemba (cowpeas) provides a habitat and
food source for ants and predatory wasps, and also attracts the pests
leafhoppers, aphids and bollworms; sanyembe (sunhemp) is highly
attractive to beneficial insects as a border crop and controls nematodes
as well. Delele (okra) attracts bollworms, caterpillars and leaf eaters;
milisi (maize) traps aphids on tassels and bollworms; mupilu (mustard)
attracts beneficial hover flies and parasitic wasps as well as aphids on
which they feed. Malanga (sunflower) attracts bollworm moths to lay
eggs, and the beneficial lacewings that feed on aphids. A horizontal row
containing a mixture of all these were planted for every 20 rows of
cotton in the field bordered by sunnhemp on two sides. A host of other
species can be planted, adding to the diversity of the farm. A variety
of trees, such as Sesbania , Leucaena , and other indigenous species can
act as windbreaks and provide habitat for farmers' friends and provide
material for composting and making teas.
The experiments started in 2003/04, planted in the Kasisi Centre, and in
farmers' fields in Chongwe district (see Table 1). The yields are
calculated per 0.25 ha in the first instance to make the different size
plots comparable. The two grades were from one harvest and refers to the
quality of the cotton, The cotton companies pay more for grade A and
less for grade B, and still less for grade C. The yield in KATC was
twice the national average. Good yields were also obtained in the
farmers' plots in Lusoke and Mulalika. In Old Kasenga and Ndubulula, the
poor yields were due to insufficient weed control and late planting
respectively.
Table 1. Yield of organic cotton in 2003/04
Area Yield kg
Grade A Grade B Total kg/ha
KATC 215 144 359 14361
Old Kasenga 85 25 110 4402
Lusoke 185 100 285 1140
Mulalika 220 230 250 1000
Ndubulula 72 23 95 3803
1 Twice the national average for conventionally grown cotton, which was
600kg/ha according to the Zambian government, and 653kg/ha according to
the cotton company Dunavant.
2 Poor weed control
3 Late planting
The economics of organic cotton from the KATC was compared with that of
conventional cotton in the villages (Table 2). As can be seen, the net
profit from organic production was more than twice that of conventional.
The organic plots not only gave higher yield in the main cotton crop,
they also provided harvests from the inter-planted species that could be
sold.
The input costs for the organic plots were higher due to the extra
labour and costs of preparing composts and manure teas. Less cottonseed
is used in the organic fields due to inter-planting, but the yield was
still higher. If the cotton were sold on the organic market, it would
fetch a premium and increase income still further for the household.
Table 2. Comparing the economics of organic and conventional cotton in
2004*
Organic (KATC) Conventional (in villages)
Item Quantity Kwacha Quantity Kwacha
Cotton 359 kg 492 100 256.0 kg 363 520
Okra 3 kg 4 500 2.5 kg 3 750
Cowpeas 10 kg 18 000
Maize 97 69 840
Sorghum 50 25 000
Sunflower 5 8 000
Total income 617 440 367 270
Input
Land preparation
Ripping 2 750 2 750
Marking lines 16 500 16 500
Planting:
Cottonseed 2.5 kg 5 367 3.0 kg 7 000
Interplants seed 15 000
Planting labour 10 000 8 250
Hand weeding 16 500 16 500
Crop nutrition:
Compost + teas 88 000
Solubor 7 500
Chemical 30 000
Scouting 32 000 32 000
Spraying labour 8 250
Harvesting labour 49 500 49 500
Total input 235 617 178 250
Net profit 381 823 189 020
*The exchange rate is 4 500 Kwachas for one US dollar.
In the following year, 2004/05, only grade A cotton was harvested. The
yields went down because of the poor rainy season (see Table 2); but
they were still better than the conventional national average for that
year, which was 580 kg/ha. The seed cotton was tested for staple length,
strength, etc., and the results were slightly better than most
conventionally grown seed cotton samples. So even with the lower prices
paid that year (as market price had gone down), farmers were still able
to record a profit because of the lower input costs.
Table 3. Yield of organic cotton in 2004/05
Area Yield kg Kg/ha
KATC 210 840
Old Kasenga 186 744
152 608
80 320
85 340
180 720
205 820
Lusoke 187 748
Mulalik 195 780
145 580
Nkubulula 195 780
102 408
186 744
Kanakantapa 185 740
110 440
Chinkuli 100 400
Organic vegetables that increased in yield year by year
Kasisi has actually been growing organic vegetables several years
before, and the results are even more stunning. Land was contracted out
to a company which started growing in 2000, the organic yields were 40
to 60 percent those of conventionally grown crops, but increased in
successive years while those of convention crops decreased. By 2004, the
organics were out-yielding the conventionals by 2 to 3 fold (see Table 4).
Table 4. Average yields* for organic and conventionally grown vegetables
Crop/year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Fine beans Organic 6 290 6 590 7 980 10 450 12 200
Conven 10 980 12 350 8 900 8 000 6 400
Baby corn Organic 4 500 5 000 7 800 9 800 10 000
Conven 11 900 11 000 8 900 8 000 7 000
Peas Organic 6 000 8 000 12 000 15 000 15 000
Conven 12 000 12 000 8 000 6 000 4 500
*Kg/ha
While yield increased year by year under organic management, production
costs decreased (Table 5), partly on account of setting up costs during
the first year, such as liming and rock phosphate amendments, and partly
because the labour required for pest control diminished as soil
fertility and plant health improved from compost and green manure, and
the organic integrated pest management regime became more mature and
effective in preventing pest attacks. The carrot crop was introduced
when the soil fertility had already been built up, so there is little or
no difference in production costs over the three successive years.
Table 5. Production costs* of organic vegetables over a five-year period
Crop 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Baby corn 1 211 1 192 846 630 599
M tout 2 403 2 383 1 583 1 386 1 256
Beans 2 618 2 592 1 664 1 506 1 264
Chili 2 613 2 547 1 892 1 712 1 500
Carrot 1 112 1 116 1 012
*In US$
Farmers' own open pollinated varieties outperform commercial hybrids
Hybrid seeds are sold by companies for their potential to give higher
yields than non-hybrid seeds. But because they do not breed true,
farmers must purchase the seeds from the companies every year if they
want to keep up the same performance. In contrast, non-hybrid seeds, or
open pollinated varieties (OPVs), though lower yielding, have allowed
the farmers to save and replant seeds every year. That is what every
student of agriculture and genetics has been told, and it has become a
dogma among academic plant scientists that open pollinated varieties can
never yield as much as hybrids.
Br. Paul has proven them wrong. OPVs, obtained from local small-scale
farmers who have been saving them for years, gave yields equal or better
than some hybrid varieties grown under the same organic management
regime. Table 6 shows the yields of OPV and hybrid maize under organic
management.
Table 6. Comparing OPV and hybrid maize under organic management
Crop Yield kg/lima (0.25 ha)
Late maturing OPV 1400
Late maturing hybrid 1238
Late maturing OPV inter-planted with sorghum 1248
Late maturing hybrid inter-planted with sunhemp 1044
Medium maturing hybrid 1375
Short season hybrid inter-planted with sunhemp 825
The high yields from OPVs show that they perform better in low external
input systems, as opposed to hybrids that require high external inputs
to fulfil their high yielding potentials. That is good news for
small-scale farmers, not only in providing food security, but also the
right to save, exchange and replant their own seeds, which they have had
for millennia, instead of depending on the companies, and worse, in the
case of GM crops, pay extra “technology fees”.
“We are told that hybrid maize seeds will yield three times as much as
the OPVs.” Br. Paul says, “But one member of staff at Kasisi last year
planted an OPV maize variety using compost and manure teas as
fertiliser. Well he has been able to sell his surplus maize to his
neighbour who planted hybrid maize seed and used fertiliser. Who has
food security?”
“Some farmers do even better. Another family went into organic
production since 1998, and has been able to buy a donkey, a bicycle,
roofing sheets, a colour TV, a maize grinding mill, and pay for the
university fees of a daughter.” Br. Paul continues, “They were able to
feed themselves when they farmed conventionally, but never had any money
left over. They produced food for the house and managed to repay the
fertilizer loan, but after going into organic production, they have much
more money at their disposal.”
Unlearning his lessons at university
Br. Paul was raised on a farm in Southwestern Ontario in Canada, one of
the most productive farming areas in the country. He says, “My dad used
a lot of fertilisers and chemicals. We were modern farmers like many
others in the area, quick to adopt new technologies, using more and more
fertilisers every year, applying herbicides and spraying for pests in
large tomato field.”
Br. Paul majored in plant pathology while studying for his agricultural
degree, his studies were focussed on the Green Revolution. He confesses,
“When I came to Zambia, I naively thought that I would change things
here. During the first 15 years, I promoted the use of fertiliser,
chemical spraying in the vegetable gardens and using hybrid seed. It
finally dawned on me that we were not going anywhere. Every year farmers
were asking for loans to buy seed and fertiliser. Farmers made some
money on maize production in only two years out of those 15 years.”
As he looked round, he realized it was not only at Kasisi and in Zambia,
or Latin America that farmers were doing poorly. It was the same in
Europe and North America. “In North America, farmers I knew personally
have gone bankrupt. They would have been considered role-model farmers,
doing everything according to the advice given by the government
agricultural extension officers and agricultural universities. But they
went bankrupt and lost their farms. The excuse offered was that
inefficient farmers were being weeded out.”
In Zambia, 80 percent of the rural population are poor. Many farmers
cannot even produce enough food to feed their own families. They are
continually asking for loans to buy farming inputs. Fertilisers arrive
late, if at all in the villages. Now, they have been advised to add an
equal amount of lime to the fertilizer.
Transport is a big problem; there are virtually no roads for vehicles in
remote areas. To make things worse, a fuel crisis has taken over the
country in the past weeks and everywhere you go, long queues for petrol
snake towards empty petrol stations waiting for promised deliveries.
In the 1980s, someone suggested to Br. Paul that he should look at
organic agriculture, but he thought it was strictly for a small
left-wing group who had enough money to pay for this type of farming.
Nevertheless when he returned for home leave in Canada in 1988, he
visited organic farmers, and found them to be successful. He studied the
principles of organic agriculture in Ontario and adapted them to the
situation in Zambia, and has never looked back.
“The staff at KATC, once convinced of the organic way of farming and the
value of indigenous knowledge, have been very much in the forefront in
explaining this to their fellow country folk.” Says Br. Paul.
The Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre trains small-scale farmers in
5-day residential courses on the principles of organic agriculture and
indigenous knowledge, on organic vegetable production, organic cotton
production, internal control systems, farm management, beekeeping,
agroforestry, seed multiplication on farm and dairying.
The Institute of Science in Society, PO Box 32097, London NW1 OXR
telephone: [44 20 8452 2729] [44 20 7272 5636]
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press-release@i-sis.org.uk - ISIS Director m.w.ho@i-sis.org.uk
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