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How can organic resources be collected, processed, stored and applied in a manner that makes the best use of these important, and too often misused, materials? John Lekasi, a scientist with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, describes the principles of sound organic resource management.
A profound transition is underway in East Africa as smallhold farmers move from subsistence, cereal-based farming to mixed-enterprise, market-oriented systems. In subsistence systems, relatively few resources are available and their use is straightforward, with crop residues from maize-legume intercrops fed to relatively few livestock and the obtainable manure applied to home gardens. This trend leads to nutrient depletion in crop outfields, particularly when land is no longer available for natural fallow. As their systems diversify, a wider range of organic resources become available to land managers and more possible uses emerge. Those resources that can serve as feed for confined animals are generally best used for that purpose. Livestock manure is more fully recovered, and generally composted and applied to cash crops, but is also available to fodder and field crops.
Income generated through cash cropping allows for purchased inputs, particularly feed and fertilizer. Low fertility patches or fields are corrected through the use of specialized technologies including strategically combined fertilizers and short-term improved fallows. Field and fodder crops are more frequently rotated. Composting makes better use of assorted organic resources, and allows for improved nutrient contents of otherwise lower quality materials. Orchard and other tree enterprises are initiated that not only generate revenue, but also biomass that is used elsewhere on the farm. Household enterprises may also extend beyond agriculture, particularly into cottage industries. This sort of diversified organic resource management leads to better lives and contributes to rural transformation.
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