Great post on the transformative power of #biochar in Uganda & teamwork between Solidaridad East and Central Africa & Solidaridad Deutschland as the pilot is rolled out. Check out the photos and story in this post from Alex Amanya! https://lnkd.in/gnbgqbYy
The tea value chain is one of the most intensive farming sectors that uses alot of synthetic intense nitrogen based fertilisers. On average, 150 kilograms of nitrogen per ha per year is used in tea fields.This contributes alot to the green house gas emissions with nitrogen emissions having a 273 warming factor compared to carbon emissions. In addition fertilisers are too costly for farmers especially for the small tea growers. In order to reduce the emission footprint of small tea farmers while reducing their cost of crop nutrition, Solidaridad East and Central Africa with funding from the #RSProgrammeTLGNRM is conducting a biochar tea pilot in Uganda.The objective of the pilot is to study the reduction in the use of synthetic fertilisers through biochar. The project team with support from our biochar expert from Solidaridad Deutschland Markus Bier conducted a field training on biochar pyrolysis using tea prunnings. This was conducted with farmers and staff of Mabale Tea Growers in Western Uganda.The biochar was produced using the metal and earth Kontiko systems. The farmers in addition were trained on the inoculation and application process in the tea farming system.The pilot will track the productivity improvements compared to conventional methods of tea crop nutrition. Biochar is a soil improvement intervention that improves water and nutrient retention while supporting increased soil microbial activity and nutrient uptake while reducing nutrient leaching. The pilot in addition is looking at exploring the idea of generating tea biochar carbon credits working with Planboo and Solidaridad Network as the sink managers under the payment for ecosystem services. Flaviah Koyesiga .PMP® Eduard Merger Noura Hanna Laura K. Kathryn Dixon
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