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Tropical Lowlands

Tropical lowland regions are characterized by high humidity and annual rainfall. Lowlands exist around the world in microclimates but predominate areas of South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, and Coastal regions of the tropics. One of the main agricultural concerns for lowland regions is dealing with waterlogged soils and related plant pathogens.

  1. Principles of Agriculture For The Humid Tropics

    19-11-1997 Principles for increasing organic matter in order to increase soil fertility. Little by little, work in a dozen countries has convinced us that the vast majority of soils can be made highly fertile. How? By using our first principle:maximize organic matter production.
    Roland Bunch Cover Crops Green Manures Mulch

  2. SRI, the System of Rice Intensification: Less Can be More

    Key Resource
    21-09-2015 The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a method of raising rice that produces substantially higher yields with the planting of far fewer seedlings and the use of fewer inputs than either traditional methods (i.e., flooding) or more “modern” methods (using mineral fertilizer or...
    SRI System of Rice Int... SCI System of Crop Int...

  3. Tomato Grafting in Southeast Asia: A Useful Technique for Rainy Season Production

    Tomatoes are difficult to grow during Southeast Asia’s hot and humid monsoonal rainy season. A combination of waterlogged soils, increased disease pressure, and high temperatures often kill young tomato transplants or significantly reduce yields. As an introduced crop, originally from South...
    Vegetable Grafting Grafting Tomatoes flood resistant waterlogged soils Asia

  4. Fish Farming: Basics of Raising Tilapia & Implementing Aquaculture Projects

    Key Resource
    01-07-2010 Fish farming can generate high interest and excitement. It has great potential to produce high quality protein in relatively short time periods and in small areas. Fish farming is one way that resource poor farmers throughout the world can provide protein that is often lacking in the family diet...
    Aquaculture Fish Farming Tilapia

  5. Vegetable Production Through the Rainy Season

    01-04-2012 This article is found in ECHO Asia Note #13 The cool, dry season offers the best window for vegetable production in the tropics, assuming an adequate water supply. Pest and disease pressures are relatively low and temperatures are moderate. By contrast, the rainy season brings a combination of...
    Asia

  6. Bamboo for Construction

    Key Resource
    17-05-2018 Many plants deemed as invaluable for the smallholder farmer offer nutritious food for the family, fodder for animals, or timber for construction. Remarkably, bamboo offers all three of these assets from the same perennial plant! This Technical Note will focus on how to most effectively harvest,...
    Bamboo preservation Bamboo Bamboo Construction

  7. Rice Hull Gold - 10 On-Farm Uses of Rice Hulls

    This article is from ECHO Asia Note # 37. One of the great challenges of sustainable agriculture is the sourcing of adequate and affordable organic (carbon based) resources that can be used on-farm for the production of food and feed. Utilizing composts, manures, mulches, and other organic inputs...
    Waste By-products Rice Hulls

  8. Farm-Generated Feed: Fish Feed Production

    This article is from ECHO Asia Note #20 Farm-generated fertility makes agriculture more sustainable. Crop residues and manures are part of the nutrient cycle and can lower input costs through the use of thermophilic composting, vermiculture, bokashi production, or green manures. Farm-generated...
    Fish Farming Black Soldier Fly Asia

  9. Farm-Generated Feed: Hog Feed Production

    01-08-2015 This article is from ECHO Asia Note #25
    Asia

  10. Making On-Farm Pig Feed: Farm-Generated Formulas vs. Commercial Feeds

    Key Resource
    This article is from ECHO Asia Note # 42 The integration of livestock on the smallholder farm is often a key component to the long-term sustainability of the farm, specifically by means of critical nutrient cycling. Livestock play a unique and critical role on the farm, transforming plant and...
    Pig Feed on-farm feed Banana Stem banana silage fermented feed Hogs farm generated feed Pigs Asia

  11. Preserving Bamboo with Borates

    This article is from ECHO Asia Note #4 Working together with Thai Care, the children's ministry of the Rain Tree Foundation, Meribah Ram Pump is engaged in various community development projects in northern Thailand. A major focus is to make simple, sustainable technology, such as ram pumps and...
    Pest Control Biological Control Bamboo Bamboo preservation Borates Borax Boric acid Asia

  12. Increase Yields and Save Money with Innovative SRI Tools

    14-06-2014 This article is from ECHO Asia Note #21 The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a promising rice-farming methodology that is able both to lower production costs—of seed, fertilizer, chemicals, and water—and to increase yield by enabling each rice plant to reach its full potential. However,...
    SRI Asia

  13. A Toolkit of Resilient Agricultural Responses to Climatic Challenges in Tropical Asia

    This article is from ECHO Asia Note #16 During the 2012 ECHO Agriculture Workshop in Yangon, 63 attendees representing at least 25 agriculture and community development organizations from across Myanmar were polled about their observations and opinions related to climate change. The vast majority...
    Asia

  14. Banana, Coconut & Breadfruit

    Key Resource
    01-06-1998 There are more than one hundred major species of fruits in the tropics, which make a very interesting contribution to the appetite as well as to good nutrition. These species vary in ecological requirements, in season of production, in yields, uses and, of course, in many other characteristics....
    Banana Coconut Breadfruit

  15. Handbook of Animal Health

    01-01-2007 This is an amazing manual covering animal functions of all the major domestic animals. It contains an incredible amount of information in one volume. It is written in a simple, easy to understand style, supplemented with many good illustrations. This book was developed to benefit rural people in...
    Animal Production Medicine Veterinary Emergen... Veterinary Veterinary Medicine Animal Parasites Animal Welfare Domestic Animals-D... Domestic Animals-P... Domestic Animals Veterinary Vaccines IAHC

  16. Cowpea Varieties for Warm Rainy Season

    17-07-2020 Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a legume with edible beans, grown throughout the tropics as a green manure/cover crop. Cowpea thrives in hot climates with annual rainfall of 750 to1100 mm. Once its roots are established, it is quite drought tolerant. High rainfall, however, adversely affects cowpea...
    Cowpea Cowpea-Diseases & ... Variety trial

  17. Katuk, Sauropus Androgynous, A Great Vegetable For The Hot, Humid Tropics (With A Caution)

    19-02-1998 Katuk,Sauropus androgynous, is an excellentvegetablefor hot, humid climates. It has a pleasant peanut-like taste when eaten raw and the cooked leaves taste excellent as spinach.
    Underutilized Crops Katuk Nutrition Dark Green Leafy V...

  18. A Spinach for the Humid Lowland Tropics

    19-07-1997 The thick, succulent leaves of the Malabar spinach vine,Basella alba, are among ECHO’s favorite vegetables to grow during our hot, humid summer which mimics that of the tropical lowlands. Native to tropical lowland regions of Asia, this short-lived perennial vine tolerates high temperatures and...

  19. Important Food Plants for Lowland Nigeria

    20-01-2011 This book is designed as a simple introduction to the more common food plants of Lowland Nigeria. It is hoped people will take greater pride and interest in these plants and become confident and informed about how to grow and use them. Many of the local food plants that occur in every country are...

  20. Three Cheers for Job's Tears: Asia's Other Indigenous Grain

    01-04-2012 This article is found in ECHO Asia Note #13 Introduction In many parts of tropical Asia, especially on rainfed farms, there has been an explosion of acreage planted in maize. The increase in commercial maize production is driven by growing livestock feed demand, and is displacing many traditional...
    Asia

  21. Inca nut (Plukenetia volubilis)

    30-10-2015 Inca nut (Plukenetia volubilis) is a forest plant from the South American Amazon where it has been used as a wild food source for over 3000 years. It is gaining attention as a valuable vegetable oil crop, and is now being grown more widely. ECHO recently obtained seed from Southeast Asia, which...
    Industrial Crops Inca Nut Plukenetia volubilis

  22. Soils of Mainland Southeast Asia

    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),...
    Acidic Soil Soil Asia

  23. Acidic soils of the Tropics

    01-10-2019 Acidic soils are soils with a pH lower than 7. For most plants, having a pH between 6 and 7.5 is ideal (see table 1 for more exact numbers), but soils can become dangerous when their pH drops beneath 4.5. As the pH drops, aluminum becomes more soluble, toxifying the soil and harming the plants....
    Acidic Soil

  24. Conservation Agriculture in Areas with High Rainfall

    30-04-2015 We recently learned of correspondence among several network members on the topic of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in areas of heavy rain. The information seemed potentially helpful for others in ECHO’s network, so we are sharing it here.
    Conservation Agric...

  25. Beans for the lowlands - video

    Access Agriculture Training Video Farmers in Guatemala explain how to grow beans in hot, lowland areas by first selecting a bean variety that is adapted to the heat. They plant the beans in the winter, and sometimes have to provide irrigation. The beans can be planted alone or between the rows of...
    AccessAgriculture Beans Tropical Lowlands Crop Selection Latin America and ...