These are images of an excellent attempt (and a rather successful one at that) by a small scale farmer in Mozambique, to change to a more sustainable way of farming. The reason this farmer is doing this is because he has seen the benefits of doing so, and says his crops have done well since he started. His is a more 'regimented' approach to what I promote, but it is still a huge step in the right direction. I do not mean that my approach is all higgldy piggldy and all over the place, but what I promote is something that is more permanent. In the 1970's two Australians coined the term 'permaculture', a term they derived (I believe) from 'permanent agriculture'. The idea is that people farm using all the natural resources available to them, to their benefit. It is a state of everything within a given environment, plays a role toward the balance and health of that environment. Absolutely everything is used in some way to add value to the environment, to earn it's keep. The idea is fantastic but since the introduction of modern agricultural methods, we have all but lost the knowledge of how to farm without the aid of chemicals. We became a little too clever for our own good. 
But do not worry!! Not only have our scientists worked out how to make things that ultimately destroy, some have gained a deep understanding of how most things work, and we can use that knowledge to bring our depleted agricultural soils, back to health. Nature always fights to make a come-back when people tear it down and strip it back, so the cause is never fully lost; soils that have relied on heavy chemical fertilisation to support crops, can be rehabilitated.
In these pictures the farmer has planted a bean crop and every three rows of beans there is a row of maize. The following year the main crop in this field will be maize and every fourth row will be beans, and so on. This type of farming has been called 'Conservation Agriculture' or 'CA'. CA does tick some of the boxes, and will sustain land for much longer periods than 'mono-cropping', but it is not, in my humble opinion, a fully self sustaining system.
A self sustaining system is one that has a number of permanent or long term components. It is a system that fertilises itself, providing all the plants nutritional needs. It supports everything on its soils, livestock, people and plants and if done properly on a scale that can be managed by one family, it will produce a healthy excess which the farmer can sell.This is what must be aimed at, it is an attainable goal, but many obstacles exist.......................
nice blog. Thanx
ReplyDelete