2005-07-20 Over the years ECHO has been asked to give advice concerning whether or not to use hybrid seed. We carry very few hybrid varieties in our seed bank because we expect people who receive seed to multiply it locally. Now some new information about this old question, specifically about maize, has...
2009-07-20 Many of you have graciously taken the time to fill out the seed harvest report form that accompanies each mailing of seeds from our seed bank. In reading reports from people in our network, we want to learn whether the seeds we are sending out have improved the lives of poor small-holder farmers....
2007-01-20 One should only be critical of the decisions which have been made voluntarily by millions of smallholder farmers when one has the fullest understanding of all the reasons which led to their making a change in their cropping, and particularly their staple food.
1996-10-19 CINDY FAKE with Foodfor the Hungry in Mozambique wrote about her experiences controlling locusts with a tea made from leaves of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica). Meg LaVal in Costa Rica wrote of her successes withvermicomposting, or using worms to create compost quickly. “I have worked...
2016-11-20 The 2:4 maize–double cowpea system consists of a repeating sequence of 4 rows of cowpea alternated with 2 rows of maize. Maize and cowpea are planted on the same day. The second cowpea crop is planted after the first has been harvested (about 60 days after planting).1The objective of this trial...
2021-01-01 Information from ECHO Network member Daryl Edwards from his work in Zimbabwe suggested that using quality compost containing 10% cow manure results in a maize harvest similar to that obtained with 100% cow manure. This could be significant to farmers who have small farm sizes and limited...
2017-10-03 In this workshop, I will describe and diagram the common sloping land corn and rice farming system. I will then identify leverage points within the system and how development workers can work with farmers to make these systems more sustainable.