USHA FARMERS DEMONSTRATE THE QUALITY OF ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE WITH PRACTICES

 Torintohot 

By Jerome mlaki 0789106710

AND FIFTY MAGENDELA, KARATU

FARMERS in the Arusha region who have received training in ecological farming have demonstrated in practice that Tanzania can move away from the use of pesticides and industrial fertilizers.

According to George Ndege, who is among the Ecological Agriculture farmers, Karatu in Arusha region, he notes that Ecological Agriculture, which uses natural, non-industrial inputs, has had significant health benefits for consumers and land protection in light of climate change.

Mzee Ndege says that on his 10-acre plot of land, he has been cultivating vegetables, coffee and beekeeping and is proud that the vegetables he grows have been in greater demand because they are better than those grown using industrial fertilizers.

 "Here I grow vegetables, coffee using natural fertilizers and pesticides by making them myself and making them safer for the consumer unlike those grown with pesticides and industrial fertilizers. He says his main market after harvesting is in tourist hotels in Karatu in Arusha region and it has given him great success including increasing his income and building some guest houses in Karatu."

He also notes that he has been confident of the market although he is unable to explain it because the demand is high as he currently serves only five hotels despite the presence of more than 80 tourist hotels in the area.

Meanwhile, Elder Modest Fantee, a farmer from Endagem village, Karatu in Arusha region, has made it clear that through ecological farming he has been obtaining abundant crops without using farming that has an impact on the land.

I received my Ecological Agriculture education from the IDP Institute, which has been a great help to us as they provide us with natural seeds and have developed a system for keeping seed banks in villages and here I have a seed bank and they are protected in a natural way. “By using Ecological agriculture, my family also has enough food with good nutrition since its growth was not done with chemical fertilizers, here I use cow manure and natural fertilizers that I make myself.

"I am also grateful that after we started using Ecological Agriculture, we have also started teaching many people and for us we have become like a classroom, so this education continues to spread to other areas within our ward and outside," he said.

Also, Adili Msangi who is involved in ecological agriculture, animal husbandry, production of organic fertilizers and natural pesticides and conservation of natural seeds, in Karatu district, confirms that using sustainable agricultural systems has helped them to have safe crop production for human consumption and environmental protection.

In fact, ecological agriculture has helped us to give good results on the land by obtaining safe crops as we use natural fertilizers made from animal bones, as well as crop residues which others see as garbage and we transform them into a working tool and give good results on the farm.

 "We also use cow urine which we compost and at the end of the day it becomes a pesticide and that has been attracting many farmers to come and train and use it in their fields and abandon chemical pesticides. "We use natural pesticides and fertilizers to ensure that we get safe crops for human consumption but also Ecological agriculture does not kill insects but repels them but if you use industrial ones they kill all insects including those that pollinate flowers including bees and butterflies, he said.

He said that since he received his agricultural ecology education in 2017, he has had great success in the field and a wide scope for distributing natural seeds to other farmers, although the biggest challenge he faces is the lack of a bone processing machine for making fertilizer, which costs 12 million.