Zero waste agriculture
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Zero waste agriculture is a type of sustainable agriculture which optimizes use of the five natural kingdoms, i.e. plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and algae, to produce biodiverse-food, energy and nutrients in a synergistic integrated cycle of profit making processes where the waste of each process becomes the feedstock for another process.
History
[edit]The integration of shallow oxidisation ponds of microalgae was demonstrated by Golueke & Oswald in the 1960s. The widespread global implementation of these systems can be largely credited to Prof George Lai Chan-Yu-Thim (2 March 1924 Mauritius-8 October 2016 Mauritius) from ZERI.[2] Zero waste agriculture is now practiced in China (ecological farming), Columbia (integrated food & waste management systems) & Fiji (integrated farming systems), India (integrated biogas farming), South Africa (BEAT Coop & African Agroecological Biotechnology Initiative) and Mauritius. The Brazilian government has adopted integrated farming system as a major social technology for the uplifting of marginalized and subsistence farmers through coordination with TECPAR.[3]
Zero waste agriculture combines mature ecological farming practices that delivers an integrated balance of job creation, poverty relief, food security, energy security, water conservation, climate change relief, land security & stewardship.
Practice
[edit]Zero waste agriculture is optimally practiced on small 1-5 ha sized family owned and managed farms and it complements traditional farming & animal husbandry as practiced in most third world communities. Zero Waste Agriculture also preserves local indigenous systems and existing agrarian cultural values and practices.
Zero waste agriculture presents a balance of economically, socially and ecologically benefits as it:
- optimizes food production in an ecological sound manner
- reduces water consumption through recycling and reduced evaporation
- provides energy security through the harvesting of biomethane (biogas) and the extraction of biodiesel from micro-algae, as a by-product of food production
- provides climate change relief through the substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from both traditional agriculture practices and fossil fuel usage
- reduces the use of pesticides through biodiverse farming
Certification of such farming practices is both challenging and an opportunity.[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Michelle Cohan (24 June 2020), Meet Benin's zero waste farmer inspiring an agricultural movement, CNN
- ^ Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives ZERI
- ^ Paraná Technology Institute Archived January 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine TECPAR
- ^ McMickle, Celeste (July 30, 2020i). "Zero Waste Farms: The Next Step for Sustainable Agriculture". Agritecture. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
Further reading
[edit]- Ashok Pandey; Jonathan Wong; Kim Bolton; Mohammad Taherzadeh, eds. (July 18, 2019). Sustainable Resource Recovery and Zero Waste Approaches (Ebook). St. Louis, Missouri, USA: Elsevier Science. ISBN 978-0-444-64283-7.
- Gowhar Hamid Dar; Humaira Qadri; Khursheed Ahmad Wani; Mohammad Aneesul Mehmood; Rouf Ahmad Bhat, eds. (August 30, 2019). Innovative waste management technologies for sustainable development (Ebook). Practice, Progress and Proficiency in Sustainability (PPPS) Book Series. Hershey, Pennsylvania USA: IGI Global. ISBN 978-1-7998-0033-0.