Asalaamaleloum,
Thanks to Momodou for posting my message. I want to repost in order to
make it clear what the contents are as Gambia L does not support
attachments.
Members of the L will be aware of the extremely serious situation facing
countries in our region due to the locust invasion currently being fought
in mauritania, Senegal and Mali. Reports are of swarms of several million
travelling to reap destruction. Commentators speak of the real possibility
of famine and economic disaster.There are plenty of links on the web for
those wishing to keep up to date with this.
What can be done?
Obviously governments and NGOs will be mobilising to combat this danger,
but what can the
ordinary farmer do to protect his/her crops, with minimum
resources?
The document linked here:
http://tcdc.undp.org/tcdcweb/experiences/vol4/Neem%20biopesticides.pdf.
Is a detailed article entitled: "Preparation of neem biopesticides at farm
level"
From the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems is gives practical advice to
those wishing to protect their crops using NEEM based products, easily
prepared by Farmers with access to minimum resources. The article is 12
pages long but here are some relevant quotes:
The Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS) has attempted to identify
the technologies that farmers were using for pest control before chemical
agriculture came into the picture. It has tested these technologies in
farmers’ fields and developed them in such a way that farmers can be
totally self-reliant with these technologies. They need no longer be
dependent on
the pesticide companies. The preparation of these products is
extremely simple, as is their application. In terms of efficiency, these
products are very good and, in certain cases, are even more efficient than
the commercially available products....
Neem has attracted worldwide attention in recent decades mainly due to its
bioactive ingredients that find increasing use in modern crop and grain
protection. Research has shown that neem extracts have an effect on nearly
200 species of insects. It is significant that some of these pests are
resistant to
pesticides, or are inherently difficult to control with conventional
pesticides (floral thrips, diamondback moth and several leaf miners). Most
neem products belong to the category of medium- to broad-spectrum
pesticides, i.e., they are effective over a wide range of pests. The
practice describes a range of neem products such as the neem leaf extract,
th
e neem seed kernel extract, the neem cake extract, the neem oil emulsion
and also neem in combination with other plant extracts for the control of
a variety of pests. The technologies using neem are extremely simple and
these products can be made by the farmer in his own backyard. They have
been tested in the farmers’ fields and satisfactorily proven to be
effective in controlling a wide range of pests. They have also been used
in controlling
stored grain pests...
Neem leaf extract
For 5 litres of water, 1 kg of green neem leaf is required. Since the
quantity of leaves required for the preparation of this extract is quite
high (nearly 80 kg are required for 1 hectare), this can be used for
nursery and kitchen gardens. The leaves are soaked overnight in water. The
next day, they are ground and the extract is filtered. The extract is
suited for use against leaf- eating caterpillars, grubs, locusts and
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
