With a significantly lower price than chemical fertilizers, the outstanding advantage of biochar is not only to improve the soil health and the quality of agricultural products but also to help maintain efficiency over a long period of time.
That is the general comment of the members attending the training session on “Application of biochar for soil improvement” held on March 19, at Cu Sue commune, Cu M’gar district, Dak Lak province.
The group photo of participants attending the capacity-building event.
According to Ms. Heloise Buckland – CEO and co-founder of HUSK Organization (Spain): Biochar is a product that has been used for thousands of years in the Amazon region and recent years has been used by other countries. In Asia and Southeast Asia, it is used to improve soil pH.
Biochar, according to research by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), can retain carbon content in soil for up to a hundred years. As for microbial fertilizers, which farmers make traditionally, they often cannot retain carbon in the soil because it is easily washed away by rainwater in a short time.
Ms. Heloise Buckland – CEO and co-founder of HUSK Organization (Spain) explained the biochar mechanism that helps improve soil.
Meanwhile, plants need up to 60% carbon content in the soil to maintain healthy root growth. But according to estimates, globally, up to 30% of agricultural land has been degraded due to unsustainable farming processes. Therefore, biochar is the “key” to help solve the problem thoroughly. When mixed into soil, biochar will help improve the structure of the soil, helping the soil retain water and nutrients, thereby allowing microflora to develop, creating ecological balance in the soil. Thanks to these advantages, people do not need to continuously apply biochar like the current practice of chemical fertilizers.
Ms. Heloise gives instructions on the application of biochar for soil improvement.
“Thanks to using biochar, I have reduced the amount of chemical fertilizer by half each year. This not only helps reduce costs, but my garden soil is also more porous, the trees are green, there are fewer pests, and the quality of agricultural products is better, so the selling price is also higher”, Ms. Dang Thi Cuc – a member Binh Minh Cooperative shared.
According to Ms. Trieu Thi Chau – Director of Binh Minh Cooperative: The outstanding advantage of the small-scale pyrolysis system PPV300 is that in addition to creating biochar from waste products and agricultural by-products, it also helps farmers dry agricultural products such as coffee when the harvest season encounters unseasonal rain. In particular, thanks to the anaerobic combustion process that does not emit CO2, therefore, environmental issues are also effectively handled.
Source: VNCPC
(https://vncpc.org/biochar-giup-cai-tao-dat-nang-cao-chat-luong-nong-san/)