9514: agriculture (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "J. David Lyall" <david@lyalls.net>

>    I have been following with interest the discussion about the state of
>Haitian Agriculture.  As one who often travels to Haiti and plans in the
>near future to start a farming project in Saint Marc, I am particularly
>interested in ways of improving soil condition and fertility.  Could you
>explain your statement concerning the "mushroom compost" that you obtained
>from a friend?  was the compost a by product of cow manure? of mushroom
>growth? Was it used to grow mushroom?
>Please explain?
>    By the way I agree with you, in many areas around Saint Marc I have seen
>people using their backyards or small plots of land to grow some kind of
>food.

The vallee de St  Marc has smart farmers. I've seen good practices
there and in the next
valley towards PauP. I just put up a new  web page about St Marc,
mostly about
the Valley inland of  the town, with pictures of the agriculture and
the stone piles
to grab  the  dust from the air.

In contrast, the hills around St Marc are totally deforested and
continually  burned over
to make more pitiful amounts  of charcoal.

Turning sugar cane waste into charcoal in the valleys around there
would be the
most productive thing one could do.
----
Se pa  pou Dadi
----
J.  David Lyall
http://www.lyalls.net/