Effective micro-organisms: The key to healthy soil and healthy diets in rural Fontem

Hello fans, welcome to Suzy Farms. Today we are going to share with you a story about Mrs. Nven, who successfully restore a healthy soil for healthy plants and healthy diet within her community. Kindly read till the end and share your own opinion in the comment section below.

 Mrs. Nven usually wakes early to prepare breakfast for her family of seven (7). After sending off the four younger children to school, she starts working in her vegetable garden. There she will harvest some vegetables like huckleberry, amaranth greens, leaves of fluted pumpkin and water leaves, then she proceed to the market where she sells them. When she return in the evening, she will pick some more vegetables to prepare food for the family dinner.  Although Mrs. Nven comes from a farming family, she hadn’t always worked with vegetables before. Her parents had exclusively cultivated cocoa, just like most other families in her village Takwei in Fontem. You may be shock to know that they have never enjoyed the product of the cocoa plants.  Cocoa is cultivated mostly for export to the West which makes them just bare labourers at the bottom of the business pyramid. So when Mrs. Nven finally married her husband Mr. Awung, she settled into a similar life: her husband grew mainly cocoa, and worked as a labourer in the off-seasons. But, because they were dependent on a single crop for sustenance, her family – just like the others – faced food shortages for 4-5 months of each year.

In 2016, Mrs. Nven started a vegetable garden, measuring 200 square meters. She hoped the family could save what they spent on buying fresh produce from the market and be assured of a varied and nutritious diet. But few vegetables flourished in the hard, red soil. Desperate not to lose the inputs and effort she had already invested, she drained her savings on chemical fertilizers. At first the chemicals seemed to work. The vegetables flourished. But gradually, she noticed that the soil was getting harder still, water would not drain, and the vegetables developed a strange bitter taste. Then, in 2020 she was advice to use effective microorganism which brings with it a unique approach: Effective Micro-organisms (EM) are specially cultivated bacteria that could condition the soil and manage pests. Though she was very skeptical when told, she finally decided to give it a try. 

She bought just 2 litter and begins by combining the EM mixture with fixed proportions of sugar, molasses and chopped-up vegetable waste. The mixture is sealed and stored, and the bacteria get to work, turning it into a rich, soupy compost. Once ready, the mixture is diluted and applied to vegetables or other crops. This activates the natural micro-organisms in the soil, conditioning it so other beneficial creatures, such as earthworms, can flourish. It also counts as a nature-based solution: a holistic approach to improving local conditions that promotes the well-being of people and the environment. Soon other farmers too were interested after seeing the result in her vegetable farm. They got a litter of EM and started adding it to their compost heap too.

Through a combination of trainings on her farm, visits to other sites, and connecting with other farmers, Mrs. Nven eagerly learned how to produce EM. She expanded her garden to 1000 square meters, devoting 100 square meters of it to a greenhouse where she could grow organic vegetables year-round. Since then Mrs. Nven garden has flourished. Same with most farmers in her community who have also learn to produce EM from scratch. Bingo, what a wonderful way to recycle waste into fertilizers to enhance beneficial soil microbes to restore soil nutrients for healthy plants, optimum yield and reduce pest. Yes, self-production of EM and no more buying of expensive chemicals resulted to low input and higher output. Isn’t this what every farmer of entrepreneur looks for? Low cost, high yield, high profit returns, poverty alleviation, food security, reduce malnutrition, community development, restoration of ecosystem, pollution reduction, etc.

“The quality of the soil is better,” she says. “There are more earthworms and fewer soil-borne pests. Weed growth has reduced, my vegetables grow faster and the soil has become rich and dark. I see ladybirds in my garden now, and I’ve noticed better drainage. More importantly, now we can keep the produce for a longer time.” Mrs. Nven plot is now an active community learning site. Farmers come, even from other villages, to learn how to replicate her successes.  “If used efficiently, EM can be a farmer’s friend, as it provides more nutrients and yield. This might seem rather a minor benefit to some but here, in remote rural areas, it is everything. It leads to improved nutrition, better incomes and sustainable living conditions for small-scale farmers.”

Indeed, agriculture is the main source of subsistence and livelihoods for the Bangwa clan. But these agricultural resources are also highly climate-sensitive, leaving the Nweh people with little capacity to adapt to the changing climate. Solutions like EM are therefore crucial to helping small-scale farmers build resilience and improve nutrition, livelihoods and soil health at the same time. We hope that, all rural farming households can benefit from the use of self-made EM application in their farms and bid goodbye to conventional fertilizers. There are many new effective technologies and techniques to improve their food and cash crops that we shall be sharing on this platform. Kindly like, share, subscribe to keep up with update.

Don’t forget to share your own opinion in the comment section below. We keep learning from each other and growing as a team. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if many farmers in rural areas especially in Sub-Sahara Africa were able to double their vegetable and crop yields without the use of chemical fertilizers? This will make the per-capita income of participating households to double, too. It is evident from the result as the production of vegetables for farmers using EM in their farms rose considerable while in non-participating villages, the volume and yield of these same crops registered a decline in production with little or no profit.

Mrs. Nven produces: Huckleberry, cabbage, lettuce, Amaranth greens, leek, chili pepper, garden egg, Koki bean, cucumber, water leaves, pumpkin, tomatoes and sweet bitter leaves. Her family eats well, and she has plenty to sell in the markets, where the quality and safety of her organic vegetables is well known. She can boost of a year round vegetable supply from her farm and greenhouse thanks to the application of EM. The days when the family spent part of the year short on food are now a distant memory.  This is what she had to say

“We can smell the freshness in the vegetables now,” she says. “When using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, we could not smell it – quite the opposite. And we can sell our produce all year round at a good price, even in the rainy season.” 

Watch the full video on Suzy Farms (youtube)

Continuous selective harvesting of soft stem vegetables to increase yield, reduce cost and labour

 

Continuous selective harvesting of soft stem vegetables to increase yield, maximize land use, reduce input cost and labour

The world demand for leafy vegetables growing on stalk or soft stems is rapidly growing. Despite the growing population, labour shortage has become a limiting factor for agricultural production and there is need to increase the amount of harvested vegetables at low labour input. One way to do this may be to consider harvesting the vegetable many times before it flowers and bear seeds. However, most western farmers have hardly explore this option of traditional selective harvesting that is geared towards increasing yield. This has left me pondering for a long time as I keep questioning myself …

Why do farmers harvest stalk leafy vegetables by uprooting them?

Ever since I traveled to the West, I have been wondering why farmers keep harvesting leafy vegetables by totally uprooting them. Once uprooted, the lifespan of the plants is over. Then they will nurse new seedlings again, tilled the soil, peg and plant afresh. What a waste of labour, time, inputs and harvest?

Rooted Amaranth (Green)

I grew up in Africa where I learned and practiced traditional farming practices from my grand-mums, parents and the entire community. Yes, we had a routine of going to the farm to cultivate our own vegetables and food crops every Saturday. A practice I enjoyed doing even after leaving the University of Buea and traveling to the West in 2003. In short, I am a proud farmer by birth and I don’t remember a year without growing my own organic food in my home garden. My family have been practicing subsistence farming and it is not by accident that I am passionate about farming.

How to harvest soft stem leafy vegetables

Most leafy vegetable grow on stalks that when harvested can develop new shoots from the remaining nodes on the stalk. In this case we harvest leaving about 2-4 nodes for new shoots to further develop, grow and spread out. Use a sharp knife and cut the vegetable just above 3 nodes on the rooted stalk. Within 4 days, you will see new lateral buds developing at the node. This may take about 10-14 days to fully grow into a broad leave stem vegetable ready for harvest.

So if you have a raised bed full with leafy vegetables, it is certain that all will not grow at the same rate, height or size. Normally these type of vegetables are usually planted closely (about 15-20 cm apart) to each other because only the vegetative growth is harvested as food. To ensure continuous harvest, you will need to employ the concept of selective harvesting.

Cut amaranth (Green)

Traditional selective harvesting practices

Selective harvesting is required for leafy vegetables that grow less homogeneously or are multi-annual. Selective vegetable harvesting allows us to harvest fresh vegetables weekly for a long period of time. Soft stem leafy vegetable like huckleberry (country njamajama), amaranths (green), bitter leaves and water leaves falls within this category. At Suzy-Farms we practice selective harvesting that enable us to harvest vegetables for about 2 months (at least 8 times) before they get mature. Once they are matured, they develop flowers and seeds. This is a sure indication that harvesting will soon come to a halt. But until then, these vegetables should be harvested by cutting the soft stem with a sharp knife. 

Within the bed of closely planted leafy vegetable, first harvest only the big matured ones. All small shoots vegetables should not be harvested. Leave these small ones to take advantage of the space created after the first harvest to further develop, spread out and growth bigger. Within a week, they must have grown bigger, matured and ready for harvest. At the same time the node left on the stems after the first harvest should have also developed young growing shoots. So by the time you carry out the second selective harvesting, this young shoots will also get enough space now to develop. This cycle may continue for 3 months with continues weekly harvesting. Please watch this video to understand how it works… Seeing is believing and believing is practicing. Click on our
youtube channel to watch how it is done in our home garden.

Bounty harvest of cut Amaranth from flower beds (companion planting)

Please make sure you grow organic, eat organic and live a healthy lifestyle. We live just ones! Don’t mess your life with unhealthy food. Start your own backyard garden as soon as possible so we can keep sharing information and good experiences. Grow your own food whenever possible and avoid frozen vegetable as much as you can. You can enhance your soil health by increasing the soil organic matter and also by practicing companion planting with beneficial synergies. This will also help to reduce pest and diseases while enhancing production. Please, make sure you harvest, cook and eat same day if possible. They are lots of vitamins and minerals in vegetables to nourish the body. These nutrients begins to reduce gradually from 8 hours after harvesting. Let your labour not go in vein. Harvest just when you are ready to prepare and eat. Watch this video here!!! 

Our Slogan: From Farm to Table. Yes! Let’s do it.  Experience it and share your story with us. Bingo!!! Those without gardens could buy fresh vegetables from organic stores or from your usual shop. However, stay away from frozen vegetable.

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