Some PELUM Zimbabwe members are supporting smallholder farmers to conduct farmer-led research on their homesteads. This, they say is intended to allow farmers to learn and try out different agroecological practices for adoption.
Tedious Masiya (78), is a smallholder farmer from Gutu district working with the Chinyika Community Development Trust. Tedious conducted an experiment to compare the performance of finger millet when it is treated with Bokashi and when it is treated with cattle manure.
Bokashi is an organic fertiliser prepared using locally available resources. Nyasha Shura (48), the Agricultural Technical and Extension (AGRITEX) Officer working with Chinyika Communities says Bokashi is a Japanese way of fermenting waste into organic fertilizer.
“It involves the mixture of fresh dry manure, dry matter, sieved wood ash, molasses and yeast,” Nyasha explains.
Tedious says he planted his crop using the broadcasting method. “On three quarters of my finger millet field l used Bokashi and the remaining portion l used cattle manure,” says Tedious.
A few weeks later Tedious observed that the plot with finger millet treated using Bokashi was performing better.
“I noticed that the area where I used Bokashi had a better yield and there were less weeds compared to the area where I used cattle manure,” says Tedious.
Paul Muchineripi (73) the Director of the Chinyika Community Development Trust says Bokashi is more effective than cattle manure.
“Bokashi has everything the soil needs such as microbes which heal the soil by removing all the toxins in the soil. It adds various minerals into the soil and this multiplies the microbes introduced into the soil. It also adds ammonia nitrate into the soil while nitrate in cattle manure evaporates because it is left in the open for a long time. This makes Bokashi more powerful than the cattle manure,” explains Paul.
Osmond Mugweni (66), a specialist in Land and Livestock Management and Director of Njeremoto Biodiversity Institute says broadcasting cattle manure into the field is not the best way of applying it as it tends to lose some of its fertility.
“With cattle manure it is best to dig a pit and leave it to cure. This is best done in June or July then you carry it to the planting holes when planting time comes. If you broadcast manure from cattle you lose the nitrogen because of exposure to the sunlight as it converts to Ammonia gas,” says Osmond.
Paul cautions farmers using Bokashi saying they need to be careful in how they apply it.
“I recommend Bokashi over cattle manure. However, the correct amounts to be applied need to be known by the farmer. Too much Bokashi can burn the crops while too much manure does not affect the crops as badly as too much Bokashi,” says Paul.
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