1. 01-07-2010 This article is from ECHO Asia Note #6 The arrival of a new crop No one seems to know whymembers of the Lisuhilltribe in northernThailand refer to a certain field crop with brilliantyellow flowers as Japanesesesame. The seeds of thiscrop yield quality cooking oil, but the plant looksnothing like...
  2. 01-09-2015 This article is from ECHO Asia Note #26 At the beginning of last year, Thailand experienced its most severe drought in twenty years. Only four years ago it also experienced its most severe flooding. Natural disasters are occurring with increasing frequency and severity; it is therefore vital to...
  3. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #30 The word permaculture is mentioned with increasing frequency in speeches, books and magazine articles on sustainability and food security. What is permaculture? Is it a movement? A philosophy? Simply a set of design tools? In this article, I answer the...
  4. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #30 Editor’s Note: Peter is a freelance consultant based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with a M.Sc. in Agriculture from Leipzig, Germany. Peter is a former researcher in “The Uplands Program,” a collaborative research program between Hohenheim University (Germany),...
  5. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #29 The old adage ‘You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know you have one’ underpins the basic science of diagnosing plant nutrient deficiencies. For years, farmers and scientists have worked together to identify a set of visual clues that can be used to...
  6. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #28 Farm-generated fertility contributes to a more sustainable agricultural system. Crop residues and manures are part of the nutrient cycle for plant production and can lower input costs through the use of thermophilic composting, vermiculture, bokashi...
  7. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #28 For both farmers and researchers in the tropics, seed saving can be very frustrating. In Mondulkiri province, farmers are rarely able to keep seed for more than the six months between harvest and the new planting season. Seeds stored longer than this tend...
  8. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #27 Microorganisms are defined as any living things too small for the eye to see; they include fungi, algae, and bacteria (Rao, 1995). These small organisms can be found everywhere: in water, air, and in the soil. On a farm, microorganism numbers are especially...
  9. Key Resource This article is from ECHO Asia Note #27 When planning to construct a “Cold Room” or “Seed Storage Room” for the purpose of preserving seed viability, one must first consider principles for optimum seed storage. InECHO Asia Note 14(July 2012), we shared results from our comparison of vacuum...
  10. This article is from ECHO Asia Note #26 ECHO Asia Impact Center staff members first heard about alternative herbicide recipes that use fermented papaya and pineapple from a retired technical school teacher and organic farmer, Kru Pratoom. As weeding is a big part of any farmer’s life, the Seed...