{"id":352,"date":"2011-01-12T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T22:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/fewer-pesticides-for-higher-yields-if-they-can-do-it-in-west-africa.html"},"modified":"2011-01-12T17:07:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-12T22:07:00","slug":"fewer-pesticides-for-higher-yields-if-they-can-do-it-in-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/fewer-pesticides-for-higher-yields-if-they-can-do-it-in-west-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Fewer pesticides for higher yields: if they can do it in west Africa…"},"content":{"rendered":"According to the U.N. F.A.O.:\n\n<\/a>\n
\nWest African farmers have succeeded in cutting the use of toxic\npesticides, increasing yields and incomes and diversifying farming systems\nas a result of an international project promoting sustainable farming\npractices.\n

\nAround 100 000 farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali\nand Senegal are participating in a community-driven training programme\n(West African Regional Integrated Production and Pest\nManagement (IPPM) Programme<\/em>)<\/a> executed by FAO.\n<\/blockquote>\nHere’s the problem they are addressing:\n\n\n

\nTo grow healthy crops, IPPM\npromotes soil improvement and alternatives to chemical pesticides such\nas the use of beneficial insects, adapted varieties, natural pesticides\nand cropping practices. Marketing and food safety issues are also part\nof the training programme.\n

\n“Trends in agriculture over the\npast decades in West Africa have seen an increasing use of highly toxic\npesticides in higher-value, frequently irrigated crops. There is a general\nlack of knowledge in the region of the negative impacts of pesticides on\nthe production, economy and health of communities and the environment,”\nsaid William Settle, FAO Senior Technical Officer.\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<\/a>\nHm, that reminds me of a more local region.\n

\nHere’s the solution:\n

\n“Simple experiments in the field, as practised by the Farmer Field Schools,\nhave given smallholders the means to produce in a more environmentally\nfriendly way, to substantially increase yields and earn a better income,”\nSettle added.\n<\/blockquote>\nMaybe we should try that around here.\n

\nFor example:\n

\nIn Mali, a survey\nconducted in 65 villages of cotton farmers who were trained in 2007-08\nshowed a 94 percent reduction in the use of chemical pesticides and a\n400 percent increase in the use of organic material like compost and\nmanure, substances that can reverse the decline in soil fertility.\n

\nIn Burkina Faso, IPPM helped increase yields from between 14\nand 70 percent.\n<\/blockquote>\nFewer poisons for higher yields and greater profits.\nWhat’s not to like?\n

\n-jsq\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to the U.N. F.A.O.: West African farmers have succeeded in cutting the use of toxic pesticides, increasing yields and incomes and diversifying farming systems as a result of an international project promoting sustainable farming practices. Around 100 000 farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal are participating in a community-driven training programme (West […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,8,40,42],"tags":[2761,1074,1075,1071,470,1080,1070,1073,1078,1076,1072,173,620,172,1077,397,1069,1079],"class_list":["post-352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-agrochemicals","category-economy","category-food-and-drink","tag-agriculture","tag-benin","tag-burkina-faso","tag-compost","tag-crops","tag-experiments","tag-f-a-o","tag-fertiilty","tag-integrated-production-and-pest-management-ippm-programme","tag-mali","tag-manure","tag-organic","tag-pesticides","tag-profit","tag-senegal","tag-soil","tag-u-n","tag-west-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Gj0O-5G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}