Pelicans!!

Iniaki and I went into the park yesterday and saw a massive flock of White Pelicans in breeding plumage feeding in the river. They were very organised and split into fishing groups of 20 to 30 birds and moving back and forth along a short stretch of the Urema River, beating the water with their wings and stirring the fish into a frenzy. A sight to behold!

Pics to follow....

How to kill pests without killing yourself or the earth; Comment from Stephen Tvedten

How to kill pests without killing yourself or the earth......

There are about 50 to 60 million insect species on earth - we have named only about 1 million and there are only about 1 thousand pest species - already over 50% of these thousand pests are already resistant to our volatile, dangerous, synthetic pesticide POISONS. We accidentally lose about 25,000 to 100,000 species of insects, plants and animals every year due to "man's footprint". But, after poisoning the entire world and contaminating every living thing for over 60 years with these dangerous and ineffective pesticide POISONS we have not even controlled much less eliminated even one pest species and every year we use/misuse more and more pesticide POISONS to try to "keep up"! Even with all of this expensive and unnecessary pollution - we lose more and more crops and lives to these thousand pests every year.

We are losing the war against these thousand pests mainly because we insist on using only synthetic pesticide POISONS and fertilizers There has been a severe "knowledge drought" - a worldwide decline in agricultural R&D, especially in production research and safe, more effective pest control since the advent of synthetic pesticide POISONS and fertilizers. Today we are like lemmings running to the sea insisting that is the "right way". The greatest challenge facing humanity this century is the necessity for us to double our global food production with less land, less water, less nutrients, less science, frequent droughts, more and more contamination and ever-increasing pest damage.

National Poison Prevention Week, March 18-24,2007 was created to highlight the dangers of poisoning and how to prevent it. One study shows that about 70,000 children in the USA were involved in common household pesticide-related (acute) poisonings or exposures in 2004. At least two peer-reviewed studies have described associations between autism rates and pesticides (D'Amelio et al 2005; Roberts EM et al 2007 in EHP). It is estimated that 300,000 farm workers suffer acute pesticide poisoning each year just in the United States - No one is checking chronic contamination.
In order to try to help "stem the tide", I have just finished re-writing my IPM encyclopedia entitled: THE BEST CONTROL II, that contains over 2,800 safe and far more effective alternatives to pesticide POISONS. This latest copyrighted work is about 1,800 pages in length and is now being updated at my new website at http://www.thebestcontrol2.com .

This new website at http://www.thebestcontrol2.com has been basically updated; all we have left to update is Chapter 39 and to renumber the pages. All of these copyrighted items are free for you to read and/or download. There is simply no need to POISON yourself or your family or to have any pest problems.

Stephen L. Tvedten

Response to Stephen Tvedten on IPM Issues

Thanks for the comment from Stephen Tvedten on IPM related issues, in response to my post entitled 'Gorongosa National Park, Organic Farming Transitional Phase', and sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I will publish your comment in my blog, and would like to keep in touch. I do not need converting, however, the people with whom we work, do. So we are taking a step by step approach, which is working. We have made contact with experts with local knowledge who will be visiting to advise us how to move forward on the IPM front. In the mean-time, we are encouraging planting of indigenous flora around cropped areas to provide a breeding ground for natural pest predators. Study here has shown that habitat structure is the most effective means of maintaining pest predator numbers.

Lastly, this is exactly the sort of disussion this blog hopes to attract, thank you.

A Great Farewell

Yesterday I had the most touching surprise, the people I have been working with in Vinho, threw a farewell party for me. They wished me and my family well and expressed the hope that we would return to see them in the future.

I am truly touched by this gesture, and will miss these good people. After the get together, they escorted me back to the river, singing and dancing all the way.

Farewell my friends, we wish you alll every success.....

Gorongosa National Park, Buffer Zone Farmers, Transition to Organic Agriculture

The aim in the buffer zone is to eventually convert farming practices from traditional to organic farming. If this is to be done successfully we have to be mindful of the following;

1. The livelihood of the farmers is the production of crops, both for commercial and home use. To this end the transition has to be made ensuring that crop yields are maintained or improved. If our stance is dictatorial and we insist farmers do not use chemical pesticides and this stance has a direct and negative impact on yield, we will immediately lose the trust and support of the farmers.
2. In the transitional phase, we should ensure that chemical pesticides are purchased from registed retailers who sell pesticides that are Mozambican registered.
3. We know experts on the local flora, and in our efforts to promote the use of Integrated Pest Management, they have been invited to show farmers what indigenous plants can be used to make pesticides. Once we have this information, we need to have these concoctions anylised to ensure there are no banned substances in them. Only then should we encourage their use.

It has come to my attention that our efforts are being critisized, and that perhaps a 'harder line' should be taken. May I remind the meddlers; the success of this project relies upon a 'two-way' effort; this organisation and the communities with whom we are working. A dictatorial approach will certainly result in failure. Think about it! Baby steps.........