Use of weed killer by peasant farmers: how safe are we?

“The rate at which weed killer is being used is alarming! My worry is that there is little or no sensitization at all on its application.

I have seen many beginning to use it including peasant farmers not excluding use in backyard gardens.

Should this be a source of worry or not?

Someone to shade more light on this topic please.” - Kenneth Abrahams

“Glad to see so many people questioning the decision to use herbicide or not...Each farming family will have their own context, how they want their lives to be, how their land must look in future to continue producing for the generations that follow us...10, 100, 1000 years from today...God has stopped making land, we need to leave the land we farm in better condition than it is now or our children could starve!

So it’s critical we consider all the social, economic and environmental factors both short and long term when we make any decisions. We at Grassroots Trust use and promote the Holistic Management framework to plan and help us make more consistent decisions towards the life we want and the result is less unintended consequences.

Some here say it's worth using poisons even if it sacrifices long term soil/environmental health for short term benefits because problems can be fixed later with more chemicals... This thinking has been Zambia's national policy for over 50 years, the result has been a catastrophic collapse in productivity and profitability for the vast majority of farmers, millions of whom have been forced to migrate to cities or other regions as the land desertifies...The consequences of poor management of environment are many but broken water cycle is the one most clearly effecting everyone with the whole of industry and mining now suffering from load shedding, floods and droughts, boreholes drying and increasing conflict over resources in general.

I urge everyone to consider this post deeply, our individual actions effects everyone...” - Rolf Shenton

“It begins with each individual realizing the collective responsibility towards the wellbeing of mother earth rests on our heads. Our individual actions accumulate into collective damage or remedy. Earth depends on us. We also depend on earth.” - Solomon Mwale

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How to kill rats in your poultry house - using a mixture of baking soda, flour and sugar

Rats are dangerous animals in the poultry house and they cause problems both direct and indirect. Direct - they eat chicks or kill chicks rapidly. Indirect - they carry many diseases that affect chicks. Therefore, their presence in the poultry house is a big risk. However, it is a bit hard to control rats in the poultry house because most of the chemicals that kill rats are harmful to our birds. Nevertheless, today we shall break the secret on how to kill rats using safe methods. Remember I am an organic poultry farmer and I promote organic methods all the time. So now, let us see how to solve this rat issue. Organic method of getting rid of rats on farms and at home: Mix baking soda + flour + sugar at equal ratios 1:1:1. Mix thoroughly dry. Put them in small containers and place them at the corners of your poultry house. They will eat it and never return to disturb you again. If you have a small bowl of that size, you can also use it. Rats love flour and so will golf it. Secondly, t

Complete Guide To Chicken Feed Formulation

The common ingredients are whole maize, maize bran, cotton seed cake, soya beans, sunflower and fishmeal (omena). In addition, farmers need to add several feed additives (micronutrients, minerals and vitamins) to ensure their birds have a balanced feed that meets their daily nutrient requirements. Ingredients are cheaply available, especially after the harvesting season. Depending on the cost of ingredients, farmers who make their own feeds at home save between 30 to 50% for every 70kg bag of chicken feed, depending on the source of their raw materials. Due to government regulation, major feed companies have reduced the standard quantity of feed from 70kg to 50kg per bag, but the price of feed still remains almost the same. This means that farmers who are able to make their own feeds make great savings on feeds which take up to 80% of the production costs. To formulate feed, farmers have to use the Pearson Square Method . In this method, the Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) is

Hilling potatoes: why it is important

The main reason to hill potatoes is to increase yield. Potatoes form along the underground stem of the plant and not from the roots. So hilling effectively lengthen the underground portion of the stem thus increasing yield. You can either add additional soil to the bed and then mound it around the plants, or you can scoop up soil from the rows and press it against the stems. Later in the season, it’s easy to reach in and check the potatoes for size before you harvest them. After the plants reach about 20 to 30cm tall, soil needs to be hilled around the plants for the potato tubers to grow in. These “hills” or ridges are where the potatoes will form, and it is important to keep them covered and away from sunlight. If the potato tubers come in contact with sunlight they can become green and not fit to eat. In fact, green potatoes can carry toxins and could become poisonous. To prevent this, potatoes should be hilled at least 3 to 4 times during their growth cycle. The more you can hill t

Zambia Agribusiness Society

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