VITA - Volunteers in Technical Assistance

Intensive Gardening - 1/01/1990

Intensively cultivated vegetable gardens can supply a great deal of a family's food from very little land. However, to maintain their productivity, these gardens require a lot of fertilizer and some special techniques, which are discussed below.

As one crop is finished, another is put in its place throughout the growing season. Without additional fertilizer the soil would soon be worn out. Cost of the garden can be kept low by using compost and a crop rotation system that also includes poultry or other livestock, which can give a steady supply of manure. This virtually eliminates fertilizer costs. The best way to ensure a large supply of manure is to keep the animals in a pen, barn, or corral, especially at night.

Understanding Soybean Products And Processing - 1/01/1990

Since 1950, soybeans have become a valuable part of the world's food supply and of the systems that produce and deliver food. Production of soybeans has grown rapidly and in 1990 amounted to approximately 100 million metric tons (MMT) annually. This compares with about 500 MMT each for rice and wheat and 800 MMT for coarse grains, predominantly maize.

Soybean production is widespread but is centered in temperate climates. The United States produces about half of the total; the other major producers are Brazil (15 MMT), China (10 MMT), and Argentina (8 MMT). Soybeans contribute about 20 percent (13 MMT) of the total vegetable oil and are the world's main, single source of food oil. Palm oil accounts for 8 MMT and sunflower oil 6 MMT of the world's total.

The flowering of the soybean is sensitive to day length; therefore cultivars (cultivated varieties) must be selected for the latitude in which they will be grown. Poorly chosen cultivars may flower before the plant has grown to sufficient size to maximize yield, or the flowering may be so late that the beans freeze before they are mature.

Seeds, Weeds, and Pests

This seed cleaner was developed in Afghanistan to remove round seeds of weeds from wheat grains. The round seeds could not be separated by a sieve because they were the same size as the wheat grains. The cleaner described here takes advantage of the round shape of the weed seeds to separate them from the wheat. The wheat grains, which roll down the chute slowly, collect at the base of the inclined platform; while the round seeds roll faster and fall off the side opposite the chute. 

Understanding Seed Handling For Germination - 1/01/1986

This report notes general considerations in seed harvesting, handling, and storage, and it focuses attention on methods to enhance germination for seeds started in seedbeds. The paper is intended to be especially useful for persons interested in setting up a small business that produces seed for sale or for use in a commercial nursery.

Understanding Cereal Crops II Maize, Sorghum, Rice, And Millet - 1/01/1986

Cereal crops, or grains, include a wide variety of plants that are members of the grass family (Gramineae) grown for their hard seeds or kernels, which are used primarily for food. Grains are rich in carbohydrates and contain substantial amounts of protein, as well as some fat and vitamins. They are the staple food for most of the world's population. Over 70 percent of the world's harvested area is planted to grains, for an output of a billion and a half tons a year.

All grains consist of the same three basic parts: (1) the endosperm or starchy interior of the seed, the food source for the developing seedling; (2) the germ or embryo; and (3) various covering layers.

Most grains can be grown under a variety of weather and soil conditions, and most are cultivated in a number of different regions. However, oats and rye are most often grown in cool climates with poor soils, and wheat and barley in mild climates with better soils. Maize is preferred in warm temperate and subtropical areas. In moist tropical areas, rice is predominant; in drier tropical areas, sorghum and millets. These eight are the most widely cultivated grains. Less common grains, having limited production, include wild rice and Job's tears. There are also several plants, like flax, buckwheat, and amaranths, that are often mistakenly referred to as grains, but are not members of the grass family.

This paper focuses on production and use of maize, sorghum, rice, and millet. "Understanding Cereal Crops I" covers wheat, oats, rye, and barley.

It is not known exactly how long ago people began to eat wild grains, but 75,000-year-old implements have been found that may have been used for milling them. Grains were among the first plants to be domesticated. This discovery lies at the source of recorded history, for it was the cultivation of grains that made it possible for human beings to end their constant wanderings in search of food. With the cultivation of grains, they could settle together in communities. By 3000 B.C. they were growing all the major grains we raise today.

Many of today's varieties of these grains, however, are improved varieties that have been developed at places like the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, from its name in Spanish) in Mexico. Researchers at centers like these work to develop strains that will produce higher yields, lodge(*) less, tiller more, resist diseases and pests, and have an improved nutritional value.

In combination with improved agricultural techniques, these hybrids have produced dramatic increases in yields. But there are limitations. To achieve the full yields of which they are capable, they often require irrigation and increased inputs of fertilizers, as well as of pesticides and herbicides in some cases. These create further pressures on already strained water and fuel resources, as well as a need for larger capital investment. Moreover, a new variety of grain seldom remains under cultivation for more than three to five years before new strains of diseases and pests develop to which the variety is susceptible.

Understanding Cereal Crops I Wheat, Oats, Barley, And Rye - 1/01/1986

Cereal crops, or grains, include a wide variety of plants that are members of the grass family (Gramineae) grown for their hard seeds or kernels, which are used primarily for food. Grains are rich in carbohydrates and contain substantial amounts of protein, as well as some fat and vitamins. They are the staple food for most of the world's population. Over 70 percent of the world's harvested area is planted to grains, for an output of a billion and a half tons a year.

All grains consist of the same three basic parts: (1) the endosperm or starchy interior of the seed, the food source for the developing seedling; (2) the germ or embryo; and (3) various covering layers.

Most grains can be grown under a variety of weather and soil conditions, and most are cultivated in a number of different regions. However (speaking very generally), oats and rye are most often grown in cool climates with less fertile soils, and wheat and barley in mild climates with better soils. Maize is preferred in warm temperate and subtropical areas. In moist tropical areas, rice is predominant; in drier tropical areas, sorghum and millets. These eight are the most widely cultivated grains. Less common grains, having limited production, include wild rice and Job's tears. There are also several plants, like flax, buckwheat, and amaranths, that are often mistakenly referred to as grains, but are not members of the grass family.

This paper focuses on production and use of wheat, oats, rye, and barley. "Understanding Cereal Crops II" covers maize, sorghum, rice, and millet.

It is not known exactly how long ago people began to eat wild grains, but 75,000-year-old implements have been found that may have been used for milling them. Grains were among the first plants to be domesticated. This discovery lies at the source of recorded history, for it was the cultivation of grains that made it possible for human beings to end their constant wanderings in search of food. With the cultivation of grains, they could settle together in communities. By 3000 B.C. they were growing all the major grains we raise today.

Many of today's varieties of these grains, however, are improved varieties that have been developed at places like the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, from its name in Spanish) in Mexico. Researchers at centers like these work to develop strains that will produce higher yields, lodge(*) less, tiller more, resist diseases and pests, and have an improved nutritional value.

In combination with improved agricultural techniques, these hybrids have produced dramatic increases in yields. But there are limitations. To achieve the full yields of which they are capable, they often require irrigation and increased inputs of fertilizers, as well as of pesticides and herbicides in some cases. These create further pressures on already strained water and fuel resources, as well as a need for larger capital investment. Moreover, a new variety of grain seldom remains under cultivation for more than three to five years before new strains of diseases and pests develop to which the variety is susceptible.

Understanding The Production Of The Major Tropical/Sub-Tropical Root Crops Sweet Potatoes, Yams And Cocoyams - 1/01/1984

Root crops is a general term commonly used for a wide variety of food plants that have an underground storage organ known as a root, tuber (rhizome), corm, or bulb. Root crops are rich in starch, and low in protein and oil. They are excellent sources of calories. Some are consumed as major staples, such as cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, and the aroids (cocoyams). Others, such as carrots, onions, garlics, parsnips, and radishes, are used as fresh vegetables.

Historically, governments and academic centers have paid relatively little attention to root crops as compared to grain crops. These crops have been regarded as inferior food, and produced and consumed only by the subsistence farmers in the developing parts of the world. In recent years, however, the tropical root crops have been "rediscovered" by the research communities and others who are concerned with the food and nutrition problems of low income people.

The tropical root crops, in general, have a great potential in meeting basic food and energy needs of the developing world, and therefore deserve to be fully explored in rural development projects and strategies. Reliable estimates suggest that annual tropical root crop production is in the range of 170 million metric tons, roughly equivalent, in calorie content, to 50 million metric tons of grain. There is now a sharp increase in scientific research and investigation in every aspect of this crop in certain well-established research centers, such as: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibaden, Nigeria; International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Colombia; and International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru. The following factors have been responsible for the growing international interest in the food potentials of these crops:

• A growing interest in and appreciation of a large group of rural poor who depend on these crops for their basic calories.
• Increased population growth, and the relative rise in the prices of fossil-based energy have contributed a great deal to interest in root crops as source of food and energy.
• World food shortages, and the ever-increasing need to explore new frontiers in order to alleviate world hunger.

Understanding Agroforestry Techniques - 1/01/1989

Agroforestry refers to the integration of trees and shrubs as essential elements of agricultural and other land use systems, with the idea of improving the fertility and productivity of the soil. In this concept, trees and shrubs can be deliberately managed (that is, established, tended, protected, harvested, etc.) and considered as one of the resource elements used by people or their livestock, even though the trees may appear to be randomly dispersed in the landscape. Trees and shrubs, then, need not be forests, woodlots, orchards, or other discrete stands especially set aside for a single purpose or product. Rather, they can be planted wherever people have not allocated the space to some other use. In many situations this makes much more sense than setting aside specific areas of usable farm land for woodlots--where the most acute problem is lack of food, for example, not lack of wood. Certain tree species may provide food (fruit, leaves, edible seeds, etc.) not only for people but also for livestock, particularly during seasons when food supplies from other sources are low.

In addition to producing wood for fuel, construction, implements, tools, and art objects, other important and locally appreciated by-products of agroforestry include fiber for mats, baskets, and rope, or plant materials for medicines, dyes, tannin, cosmetics, and glue. These raw materials were easily obtainable a few generations ago when extensive woodlands still existed throughout dry regions. Today they are scarce because much of the "useless brush" has been converted to farm fields or plantations of rapid growth species, the use of which is usually limited to only a single product.

Agroforestry or soil conservation techniques, often combined, can help to stabilize cultivation on a given piece of land. Certain of these methods help prevent or reverse environmental damage in areas where fallow cropping is no longer practical. Adding trees and shrubs as permanent features in the landscape in the form of field trees, border and alignment plantings, windbreaks, and live fencing can protect the soil against erosion and improve nutrient cycling. Proper maintenance of trees in agroforestry or soil conservation systems may allow permanent cultivation of farm fields that previously could only be fallow cropped.

Many of the techniques described in this paper are based on farming systems that have evolved to allow long-term sustainable production systems to take the place of shifting cultivation. Most can be used by anyone who wishes to make better use of trees and shrubs to restore or improve their land. The techniques have been drawn largely from VITA's publication Reforestation in Arid Lands by Fred Weber and Carol Stoney.

Gardening With The Seasons - 1/01/1979

Gardening with the Seasons has been adapted from a booklet prepared as part of an innovative and meaningful approach to community development that is underway in Bangladesh. The Sylhet Package Program is funded by International Voluntary Services, Inc. (IVS), a respected US-based private development organization, in cooperation with three local agencies--the Rural Development Training Institute, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and the Government's Integrated Rural Development Program. In summary, the "package" project involves extension work to promote production of vegetables, high-yielding rice, fish, and ducks; health and family planning; functional education; and cooperative development.

Raising Rabbits - 1/01/1977

This manual presents an overview of the entire process of raising rabbits--from selecting healthy animals to preparing proper foods to treating disease. A separate section of the manual includes step-by-step procedures for the construction of a hutch unit to house two does and one buck.