You are looking at scripts about Soil health

Green Manure and Rice: Get Higher Rice Yields with Green Manure Crops

August 1, 1992

Every farmer must think about how to get good yields, not only this season but year after year.  As rice grows, it takes nutrients out of the soil.  The crop uses about 20 kg nitrogen, 5 kg phosphorus, and 44 kg potassium to produce one ton of rice grain!  When no fertilizer is added and…

Comfrey Leaves as Potato Fertilizer

March 1, 1992

Content: A man in South Africa has learned from a village elder that comfrey leaves are good fertilizer for his potatoes. One day Tabo was out in his garden working. He was planting potatoes. He was planting them different ways to see which would grow the best. Next to his animals, Tabo loved nothing more…

Grow Your Own Fertilizer -Plant Cover Crops with Maize

March 1, 1992

Many farmers in different parts of the world are growing their own fertilizers. Commercial fertilizers are becoming more and more expensive and they often fail to keep the soil fertile. So farmers are growing cover crops which are available, inexpensive, and help to keep the soil fertile for many years. Cover crops protect the soil…

Soil Conservation on Don Maximo Escobar’s Farm

January 3, 1992

Two years ago Don Maximo Escobar, a farmer from Pata Galana, Guatemala, began to farm an abandoned plot of land on a very steep hillside.  He had several goals. He hoped to farm the land using almost no dangerous chemical fertilizers or pesticides.  He wanted to prevent or limit soil erosion but he knew that…

How Trees Help Crops

April 1, 1991

Perhaps you or other farmers in your region practice a type of farming called slash and burn (shifting cultivation).  This is done by cutting down the forest, burning the trees, and planting crops on the land the trees were on.  After a few growing seasons, shrubs and trees are allowed to grow again while another…

A few farming hints

January 13, 1991

Save and edit this resource as a Word document. A. Snails as fish feed and fertilizer Lung Chieng is a farmer in northeastern Thailand. He has fishponds on his farm and grows fruit trees on the bunds that separate the ponds. Many snails live beside the ponds in the moist areas under the fruit trees….

Make compost in small pits in the garden

January 13, 1991

Save and edit this resource as a Word document. Make compost in small pits in your garden. Put fresh or decomposed kitchen and garden wastes and manure directly in these pits. The materials rot and add nutrients to the soil as your garden plants are growing. This is called basket composting in the Philippines. HOST:…

Use Bones to Make Fertilizer

September 1, 1990

When you cook chicken or other meat, you often have bones left over.  You can use these bones to make good fertilizer for your garden.  It’s easy and doesn’t cost any money.  All you have to do is boil the bones in a pot of water, dry them, and crush them. First collect the bones. …

Strip cropping saves soil and water

July 8, 1986

Suggested introduction We at this radio station are part of a world-wide information network that gathers farming information from developing countries all over the world. It’s the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency, Massey Ferguson, and the University of Guelph. Through this Network, we bring you information on ways…

Handling Manure

July 1, 1985

Suggested introduction We at this radio station are part of a worldwide information network that gathers farming information from developing countries all over the world. It’s the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency, Massey Ferguson, and the University of Guelph. Through this Network, we bring you information on ways…