By Evelind Schecter | Project Leader
Biochar and its benefits are being recognized on a global level and we get requests for information and partnership daily. In Thailand, the growing community of organic farmers is using the biochar produced by other farmers with access to large quantities of crop wastes or making it on their own. In Africa, the farmers are reaping the benefits of improved soil and food security on their small farms. In Mae Chaem the agroforestry program is moving forward, although we had one setback this year.
Another area you are supporting is finding the least expensive, most effective way to make biochar with different feedstocks This also means we are working on improving our training materials and looking at ways to make them more accessible online. When the Tanzania farmers were having problems getting access to a TLUD because the used oil drums are so expensive, our Biochar Manager, Aom, worked out the details of making biochar from corncob in a trench. This method works for feedstocks like coconut husks and cacao pods as well. Before this, corncob was pyrolyzed in a TLUD; only cornstalk and branches were pyrolyzed in a trench. (See video link below.).
Aom, recently visited the coffee and agroforestry farms in Mae Chaem to confirm when they will be making biochar from the corn harvest and using it for the trees. The coffee trees and most of our agroforestry trees were doing well. On one farm, some of the trees had been burned when a neighbor started a fire to make a firebreak and let it spread. Luckily, he was willing to admit his mistake and has provided funding to replace the burned trees.
Busy, but never dull. Always learning and spreading the knowledge.
Thank you for your enduring support of our work. You are improving the lives of smallholder farmers and their families around the world and; at the same time stopping the open field burning that creates harmful smoke that we breathe and heats the atmosphere.
Best wishes for the months ahead,
Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Biochar Teams.
Links:
By Evelind Schecter | Program Leader
By Evelind Schecter | Program Leader
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