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Sustainable soil health: the surge of the icac open-earth-cone-pit biochar and Bokashi composting methods among smallholder farmers in Africa and India

Kranthi S., Kranthi K.R., Trachtenberg E., Edmonds B., Kaonga D., Hake K., Gill G., Giband M., Bachelier B., Simasiku M., Knappe M., Rajput H., Baruah R., Banda S., Fakhre Alam Tabib M.. 2024. In : Abdurakhmonov Ibrokhim (ed.), Yu John (ed.), Kranthi Keshav (ed.). World Cotton Research Conference-8, Book of Abstracts. Washington : ICAC, p. 33-34. World Cotton Research Conference (WCRC-8). 8, 2024-10-03/2024-10-06, Tashkent (Ouzbékistan).

Training Initiatives: Over the past three years, post-COVID, with funding support from ITC and GIZ, the ICAC has been conducting training sessions on regenerative agriculture (Regen-Ag) for scientists, agricultural field staff, and farmers in Africa, India, and Bangladesh. The trainings focused on two main technologies: Bokashi composting (Teruo Higa, 1984) and the ICAC open-earth-cone-pit method (Schmidt and Taylor, 2014; Kranthi and Kranthi, 2023) for producing biochar. Biochar and Bokashi: Complementary Technologies for Soil Health Biochar is a robust method for carbon sequestration, while Bokashi is the fastest method of composting. Freshly produced biochar is alkaline (pH 8.0 to 11.0) depending on the feedstock and production method, whereas freshly produced Bokashi is acidic (pH 3.5 to 4.0). Both are carbon-rich, but biochar's carbon is recalcitrant and remains in the soil for several decades, while Bokashi provides nutrients for soil microorganisms and plants, enhancing soil fertility and health. Biochar improves soil structure, water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity, and reduces carbon emissions. Tailoring Soil Amendments to Local Conditions: In many cotton-growing regions of Zambia and neighboring countries with acidic soils, biochar alone has been effective in soil remediation, increasing productivity of cotton and other crops. In Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, where soils are alkaline, Bokashi alone could serve as an excellent compost to improve soil health. A combination of Bokashi and biochar creates a neutral, carbon-rich material called biochar-compost, which can be tailored for any type of soil. Practical Implementation and Farmer Training: The ICAC open-earth-cone-pit method requires only a shovel, dry stalks, a matchstick, and water or soil to produce several tons of biochar in a day. The Bokashi method requires plastic trash bags or buckets, organic farm waste such as finely crushed weeds or leaves, molasses, effective microorganisms (EM),

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