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Extending the Growing Season
Ideas on how to move toward year-round production through perennial crops and
innovative farming practices.
Danny Blank, ECHO Farm Manager
ECHO Asia Conference, 2009
Percentage of Population Undernourished
Main Themes of Presentation
1)Current challenges facing small-scale farmers
2) Risk of depending on rainy season production alone in tropics
3) Strategies for extending the season beyond the rainy season yr. round production
4) Encourage you to help others expand their vision!
Small scale farms and farm families
•Usually less than 2 ha. (1 ha. = 2.5 acres).
•Dependent largely on the food they grow for sustenance
•Usually have limited capital
•Poverty and food insecurity common
•Use fuelwood or crop residues for cooking
•Physically demanding lifestyle
Average Maize Production in tons/ha
Countries/ Regions of interest:
• Italy 9.6 t/ha• U.S. 8.3• Argentina 5.3• China 4.9• Mexico 2.4• Africa 1.6• C.A.+ Carib. 1.4• Malawi 1.4 • Honduras 1.3• Mozambique 0.9• Haiti 0.8• World aver. 4.3• (2000 CIMMYT World Maize Facts and Trends)
Example of risk when depending upon rainy season production alone for year food supply in tropics
One hectare farm example (Africa, Asia average farm size 1.6 ha):• Farm sizes are small, limiting overall production potential
• Minimum of 1.2 tonnes maize per year needed to feed family
• If farmer yields 1.5 t/ha. (average for Africa, Central America, and Caribbean), barely achieve minimum of 1.2 t needed
• If average is 1.5 t/ha, many farmers achieving well below average
• What about drought, pestilence, post harvest loss, income needs, etc.?
• The margin of error is small … and this is one reason families struggle repeatedly to move beyond subsistence-level, especially when production is confined to mainly the rainy season.
• Food aid can further complicate the situation leading to further degradation of self worth and family values
How are more safety nets created and encouraged?
1. Enabling farmers to improve rainy season production. 2. We want to help farmers find innovative ways to produce
food and income during the dry season
3. Enabling farmers through perennial based systems to take greater advantage of the entire 12 months.
It means greater diversity, a strong dependence on perennials, and integration on small farms –extending the
growing season to year round production.
It also means dealing with the very real challenges
Limited availability of water
Free ranging animals
Fire
Other reasons may include cultural and personal; off-season jobs such as thatching, construction, brick making; weddings
and social activities; and lack of knowledge and capital.
We must really understand what are the major constraints to dry season activity and year round production systems before we can promote sensible, sustainable solutions.
Extending the Growing Season
• Farming practices• Fuelwood• Fencing• Forage• Fruit• Foliage– perennial greens
Farming Practices that Extend the Season
1.Soil Coverage
• Mulching
• GM/CC
2.Succession and/or relay plant
3.Water storage
4. Irrigation technologies
5.Sunken gardens/ fields
6.Tire gardens
1. Soil Coverage
Mulch, Mulch, Mulch!!!
Fourfold increase in maize since moving to no-till and no burning
Rock mulch, ECHO
Brian Oldreive
No-till, mulch based farming:
Foundations for Farming (FFF)
Former way of farming...
Burning and tillage
High cost
Declining yields
Low profit margin
Results ultimately in a wasteland!
Foundations For Farming…
Zero TillageZero Tillage
MulchingMulching
Biblical TrainingBiblical Training
ManagementManagement - excellence- excellence - on time- on time - no waste - no waste
Results in abundance!
Permanent planting stations
God’s blanket
Leave crop residue, reopen planting station during dry season and “give back to receive.” (i.e. soil cover, fertilizer, manure, and/or termite hill soil)
Manure and/or fertilizer is added to planting station
Plant into improved planting station and mulch blanket
Also known as CF or Conservation Farming. National policy of Lesotho. Hired by World Bank and FAO– has instructed in 12 African nations.
Farmer in Mozambique
FOUNDATIONS FOR
FARMING
TRADITIONAL
FOUNDATIONS FOR
FARMING
TRADITIONAL
FFF training center, Harare, Zimbabwe 7.2X 7.5 m demo. plot—2004 season 11.2 t/ha average
Green manure/ Cover crops,
ECHO
Velvet bean cover crop residue, Honduras
Annual undersowing of Pigeon Pea at ECHO
Showed no negative impact on maize yield in 1st year at ECHO vs. same size plot w/out pigeon pea.
Annual undersowing of pigeon pea planted at the same time as maize. Zambia
2. Succession or relay plant with drought tolerant crops
Seven year lima bean
Pigeon Pea
Lab lab
Tepary Bean
3. Water Storage
4. Irrigation Technologies
Drip irrigation, Ethiopia
Treadle Pump with sunken basins, ECHO,November 2, 2006
December 21, 2006
Second cropping of maize in dry season
4 Farmers share this pump on 2 acres rented land
They irrigate one full day a week
5. Sunken beds and fields
This approach involves planting in depressions. Advantages include:
1. Plants are protected from drying winds
2. There is increased soil moisture when planting lower
3. What rain does fall or irrigation added is better conserved
4. Organic matter accumulates in depressions so there can be more fertility
** Compaction is an important consideration
Meet Mr. Chinkhuntha, a brilliant farmer, who has truly extended the seasons.
Sunken fields
6. Tire Gardens
Farming Practices that Extend the Season
1.Soil Coverage
• Mulching
• GM/CC
2.Succession and/or relay plant
3.Water storage
4. Irrigation technologies
5.Sunken gardens/ fields
6.Tire gardens
Extending the Growing Season
• Farming practices• Fuelwood• Fencing• Forage• Fruit• Foliage– perennial greens
Fuel Wood Usage per household/yr:(in metric tonnes)
South Africa 5.3 mtIndia 2.8China 4.5Bhutan 12Ethiopia 5.5
1. Coppicing Woodlot
Gmelina arborea, Malawi
Acacia spp., Ethiopia
Eucalyptus spp., El Salvador
Senna, Leucaena, Neem woodlot, Haiti
Senna siamea, great coppicing tree.
Senna siamea woodlot, Haiti
Simarouba glauca woodlot, Haiti
Woodlot demonstration at ECHO, Leucaena
2. Planting borders
Planting a single line of trees on the border of 1 ha at 2 meter apart is
around 1/3 the density of a solid 1 ha. plantation planted at 4 m.
If you can achieve 30 ton/ha/yr average, then it might be possible to achieve 10 ton/yr by planting the border
alone, well above most family’s yearly need.
3. Trees on farm
Heavily pruned next to corn field
Extending the Growing Season
• Farming practices• Fuelwood• Fencing• Forage• Fruit• Foliage– perennial greens
Live and dead wood fencing for animal exclusion and other valuable products
An underestimated source of wood and forage
Mixed species fence protecting nursery on right, Haiti
Vetiver, sisal, and yucca fence and trench for goat and pig exclusion, C.A.R.
Cactus and barbed wire, Nicaragua
Livestock enclosure
formed by a living fence of a
thorny and unpalatable
Caesalpinia sp.
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/livefence.html
Gumbo Limbo and barbed wire, Costa Rica www.tripsource.com/.../Emma/CostaRica/11.htm
Fencing is such a critical part of
extending the growing season. When animals
rule the landscape, scarcity is common and
the land’s productive potential rarely
achieved.
Extending the Growing Season
• Farming practices• Fuelwood• Fencing• Forage• Fruit• Foliage– perennial greens
Intensifying animal production with perennial forages
Forage bank of Calliandra, dry season, Zimbabwe
Nacedero, Rancho Ebenezer, dry season, 2004
Nacedero, Rancho Ebenezer, rainy season, 2008
Gliricidia, dry season, Honduras
Guazuma ulmifolia, dry season, Honduras
Hibiscus– an excellent forage
Tropical highland forage species, Ethiopia
Mulberry, Ethiopia,
Tree and Shrub Forage bank at ECHO
1. Leucaena leucocephala 5. Desmodium rensonii 9. Opuntia sp.
2. Leucaena diversifolia 6. Trichantera gigantea 10. Moringa oleifera
3. Calliandra calothrysus 7. Desmanthus virgatus 11. Guazuma ulmifolia
4. Gliricidia sepium 8. Bursera simaruba 12. Spondias mombin
Rancho Ebenezer, Nicaragua
Same slope 3-4 years later
Extending the Growing Season
• Farming practices• Fuelwood• Fencing• Forage• Fruit• Foliage– perennial greens
Fruits provide diverse food
options
danny80
Fruits are perennial providing long-term food production …Congolese village sustained by fruits during war
They provide valuable nutrition
They provide income
Fruits enhance the quality of life
They offer hope…
This gentleman in Central African Republic was so proud to show the young jackfruit tree bearing fruit.
danny34
Home Garden with mango, breadfruit, ambarella, canistel, and jackfruit, Congo
World Vision project Tacuba, El Salvador.
Promoting backyard fruit production
And small-scale fruit production.
World Relief Project, Nicaragua
Helping farmers damaged by Hurricane Mitch with
new crops such as grapes
2. The planning stage…Discovering options– Network!
Botanical gardens
Roadside markets
International organizations
Local discoveries
Government & Universities
NGOs & commmercial enterprises
danny77
Minister of Agriculture and missionaries, Central African Republic, 2001
3. Fruit Resources
Mango– a true gift from GodMango– a true gift from God
Begin with in-country resources
Don’t forget common fruits and their potential for
improvement
Extending the season with early and late maturing varieties
Avocado… the importance of different cultivars
Variety ‘Haas’–1,500 meters
Nicaragua
Carambola
Papaya– enormously productive
and underutilized
danny119
On 1.4 hectares, 110,000 kg. in 18 months
Bananas– ideas for improvementMulched bananas, height of dry season Mozambique
Trench or deep planting of bananas…
another simple means of improvement.
danny's pict12
Bananas in sinkhole, 45+ kg. bunch, Bahamas
Weeds and leaves piled high.
Dry season, Zambia
danny82
Consider lesser known species
danny27
Jackfruit– an underutilized
fruit
The largest tree fruit in the
world!
danny28
Canistel
Mamey Sapote
Santol
Consider even minor fruits like the
Peanut Butter Fruit.
This tree grows rapidly and begins bearing in about 1
year from seed
Barbados Cherry
Understanding Importance of Climate and
Altitude
Rollinia
Atemoya
Custard Apple
Pulusan
Rambutan
danny131
Lychee
Genep
Apples at 1800 meters (6,000 feet), Zimbabwe
Peaches at 1800 meters, Zimbabwe
Identify species and cultivars with high potential for improvement and
success
Improved giant Jujube from Thailand
Macadamia
danny44 4. The Importance of Fruit Collections
Citrus Collection, Malawi
Fruit resource center for World Relief, Nicaragua
Approximately 1500 meters (5,000’)
5. Observation and Evaluation
6. Nursery program and infrastructure
Some may require special
propagation techniques
such as grafting
7. Distribution and Promotion
8. Training people… in how to care and plant
How to propagate and start your own fruit tree nurseries
Training in fence construction
Or protecting individual trees
Extending the Growing Season
• Farming practices• Fuelwood• Fencing• Forage• Fruit• Foliage– perennial greens
Chaya, Bahamas
Chaya hedgerow, ruminant feed and delicious cooked
green, ECHO
Chaya, Zimbabwe
Moringa oleifera, Mozambique
Moringa leaf production, Zimbabwe
Moringa leaf production, MPP, Haiti
Garlic chives, ECHO
Malabar spinach, Mozambique
Basket Vine, Trichostigma
octandrum, Edible leaf, also good rabbit forage
Extending the Growing Season
• Farming practices• Fuelwood• Fencing• Forage• Fruit• Foliage– perennial greens
Summary
1) Current challenges facing small-scale farmers… Small farms, declining fertility, low yields, huge wood needs, poor landcare practices, etc.
2) Risk of depending on rainy season alone in tropics.
3) Importance of extending the season beyond the rainy season.
* Innovative farming practicesMulch, irrigation cisterns, drip irrig., tire gardens
*Emphasis on year round cropping with perennials Fuel, fences, forage, fruit, foliage
* Diversification, intensification, and integration of small scale farms
4) Encourage you to help others expand their vision!
My people perish for lack of My people perish for lack of visionvision
God bless you as you communicate the vision of God’s
intended abundance for
people’s lives and in their land.
Extending the Season with Fruits
God bless you as you communicate the vision of God’s
intended abundance for people’s lives and
in their land.
Remember even with the common
fruits to think about extending the season with
early and late maturing varieties
Pitaya, also known as Dragonfruit