[Agri Alert-107] The Cow as a Source of Milk, Fuel, Fertilizer & Medicine.

[Guest guest]

Agri-Alert 107 08.03.07

Let us grow food, not money,

 

Let us work towards a Green Orissa.

Contents:

 

1. The Many Uses of Cow Dung and Urine.2. Feedback [Agri Alert-105]: Need for conserving indigenous bee population.

 

 

 

Comments: The Cow is a blessing to the farmers. India has revered her and given her the status of a Mother. This is not without reason. Besides providing milk she is an one woman industry as far as rural India is concerned. In these days of searching for green alternatives to our various needs, we decided to focus on the Cow. We are amazed by what we have found. Milk, fuel, fertilizer, medicine, you name it she has it. But to give her best, she has to be taken care of. To the householders who have cowsheds she is a part of the household. Stories abound how the Cow takes upon calamities upon herself to protect the family who cares for her.

Every animal and insect has a purpose on this earth.

In our feedback section Sri Farooq Ahmad of Nepal narrates the need for conserving both the wild and cultivated bee communities in the subcontinent keeping in view the disease/condition/environmental factor that is devastating the bees in America,

 

 

Kindly continue to send your feedback at livingfarms(at)gmail.com. We are a small group based in Orissa working towards food and livelihood security of rural poor. Our primary focus is on holistic rural development. Through this newsletter we intend to share critical thoughts and experiences on issues related to agriculture, both direct and indirect, with the farmers, cultivators, policy makers, media persons in this State and beyond. We have a small reading room and resource centre that is open to farmers and research scholars and also those who want to study the concept of sustainable agriculture. We are open from 9:00 AM to 4:30PM (break 11:00AM to 2:30PM) on weekdays. The Many Uses of Cow Dung and Urine

(Courtesy: Swami Krsnendu Das from NZ)

1. Fuel - cow dung patties (gootte) for cooking

2. Fertilizer - composting makes it even more powerful. Cow urine is also mixed for added benefit.

3. Heat source - cow dung is naturally hot -compost makes hotter put in glass house to heat glass house or run pipes thru it to get hot water.

3. Purifier - natural antiseptic qualities

4. Floor coating - used mixed with mud and water on floors in mud houses. Improves water absorption of mud. Prevents muddy puddles resulting from spilt water.

5. Mud brick additive - improves resistance to disintegration

6. Skin tonic - mixed with crushed neem leaves smeared on skin - good for boils and heat rash.

7. Smoke producer - smoldering cow patties keep away mosquitoes.

 

Ash - from patties used in cooking. -

8. Pot cleaner - used dry absorbs oil and fat wet as a general cleaner

9. Brass polisher - tamarind removes oxidation - wet ashes polishes10. Fertilizer - alkaline - cow dung ash is basically lime with a few other mineral mixed in

11. Mud additive - dries up slippery mud puddles

12. Mud brick additive - mud and lime (cow dung ashes) becomes like cement

13. Pond PH balancer - thrown into pond neutralizes acid.14. Medicine - ingredient in panca gavya

15.

Seed protector- covering seeds in dung before planting helps to protect against pests.16. Power - Used as BioGas as a source of power.

The following article is also very interesting:

Turning cow pies into cash piles

 

Listen

to this story

New technology is helping beef and dairy farmers turn a

profit on a sustainable commodity right in their own back... well, barnyards.

Seems one farm's cow poop can power hundreds of homes.

 

TEXT OF STORY

 

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Imagine turning cow pies into cash piles.

New technology is helping farmers profit from an all-too common commodity found

in cow barns. Ag officials say they're helping more dairy and beef producers

realize the economic potential of manure. Appropriately enough, Brian Bull has

the poop.

 

 

 

BRIAN BULL: Whether it's Al Gore's film,

" An Inconvenient Truth, " or President Bush's call for more renewable

energy ventures, utilities and companies are catching wind of cow poop's

marketability as a green power source.

 

Timm Johnson of the Wisconsin Agricultural Stewardship Initiative says many

farmers are now buying manure digesters.

 

Yes, they're called digesters. The units remove methane gas from the heated

waste, and that gas powers a generator.

TIMM JOHNSON: The electricity can be enough

produced to supply anywhere from 500 to 1,250 homes on an annual basis.

Farmers pay more than a million dollars for a

digester-generator combo, but Johnson says the energy savings help cover costs

within a few years.

 

Other uses for cow pies include building and composting materials.

 

In Madison, Wisconsin, I'm Brian Bull for Marketplace.

 

FEEDBACK [Agri Alert-105]:

Need for conserving indigenous bee population.

Dear Friends,

It is pleasing to hear something

interesting about bees . I would like to share some interesting

information on the Austrian Government supported ICIMOD's Indigenous

Honeybees Program which is being implemented in the Hindu-Kush

Himalayan region with the help of partner organizations in

Afghanistan,Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan. In this

context I would like to say that indigenous and wild bee populations

are stabilizing in different project sites because of ecosystem

approach adopted by beekeeping groups.I invite you to visit our website

 

www.bees4livelihood.icimod.org for detailed information.

It is important to note that European honeybee Apis mellifera

is under severe pressure due to the attack of Varroa Jacobsoni

and Varroa destructor

a

parasitic mite which has virtually destroyed more than 50% populations

of this species in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pardesh India and same

is happening in Pakistan. It is time to understand the importance of

indigenous Apis cerana

and other wild bee species of the region to

achieve the goals of improved productivity through pollination services

and livelihood improvement through honey and other high value bee

products. It is further to inform that our Asian hive bee Apis cerana

is resistant to the attacks of Varroa Jacobsoni and

Varroa destructor and

there is no report of African hive beetle attack on this species in

this region which is virtually devastating US pollination industry.

Our conservation apiculture program is based on community based selection and multiplication of

Apis cerana, conservation of wild bee species like

Apis laboriosa, Apis dorsata and

Apis florea

through involving grass root organizations and national research

institutions. This conservation effort is producing meaningful results

by benefiting poorest of poor and conserving biodiversity.

Best wishes and regards

Farooq Ahmad

 

Farooq Ahmad PhD.Coordinator

High Value Products and Sustainable AgricultureInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)GPO Box 3226 Kathmandu, Nepal--

Living Farms ( a project of DRCSC, Kolkata )77 ,B , Brhameswar Patna

 

Tankapani Road

PO-Baragada Brit ColonyBhubaneswar -751018

Orissa

Phone- 9938582616

www.drcsc.org