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Teaching agroecology in schools (14:23)Schools can use activities based on agroecology to enable children, parents and teachers to value and conserve local knowledge Watch video › |
Creating agroecological markets (15:38)Learn how to create a weekly agroecological market where farmers can sell their natural products at a fair price Watch video › |
Recovering native potatoes (16:22)Learn how to recover native varieties by forming a network of seed guardians and by creating a market for native potatoes Watch video › |
Managing seed potato (15:34)For healthy seed you need to keep your soil healthy; grow healthy plants; select healthy seed; and store it properly Watch video › |
Rotational grazing (14:52)With the changing climate, there is often less water available, so the grazing lands need to rest so the forage plants can recover Watch video › |
Improved pasture for fertile soil (16:05)When your fields are fallowed with cultivated pasture, they recover their strength and become fertile sooner Watch video › |
Inspiring women leaders (14:28)Learn how to inspire women leaders, and how men, local authorities and other public institutions can support them Watch video › |
Flowering plants attract the insects that help us (15:35)Many insects help us by pollinating our crops and by killing harmful insects Watch video › |
Cassava harvest made easier (10:00)Farmers in Africa and Asia show how harvesting cassava roots can be done easier Watch video › |
Forecasting the weather with an app (15:00)Combined with local knowledge, modern tools help to predict the weather in the short term Watch video › |
Recording the weather (13:50)Sharing local knowledge to predict the weather with the community and plan farming activities Watch video › |
Living windbreaks to protect the soil (15:00)In arid lands, strong winds blow away much of the soil from fields unless you keep live barriers Watch video › |
Quality cassava planting material (15:40)If your cassava suffers from diseases, better buy quality declared planting material Watch video › |
Managing aflatoxins in maize during drying and storage (15:03)Maize that is poorly dried and stored will develop moulds. These moulds produce poisons, called aflatoxins Watch video › |
Managing aflatoxins in maize before and during harvest (14:00)Some moulds that live in the soil can infest your crop when it suffers from drought. They can secrete deadly poisons, called aflatoxins Watch video › |
Killing fall armyworms naturally (15:40)Never spray chemical pesticides, as these kill the farmers' friends and you may end up having more armyworms than before. Watch video › |
Scouting for fall armyworms (14:10)Learn how the fall armyworm lives and how we can easily kill it by hand. Watch video › |
Managing aflatoxins in maize during drying and storage (15:03)Maize that is poorly dried and stored will develop moulds. These moulds produce poisons, called aflatoxins. Watch video › |
Managing aflatoxins in maize before and during harvest (14:00)Some moulds that live in the soil can infest your crop when it suffers from drought. They can secrete deadly poisons, called aflatoxins. Watch video › |
Farmers' rights to seed - Guatemala (14:00)Farmers, men and women, in Guatemala claim their right to sell their seeds, and to conserve and exchange them. Watch video › |
Farmers' rights to seed - Malawi (15:55)For centuries farmers all over the world have been the guardians of crop seed and the breeders of new varieties. In the face of a push to grow commercial varieties, farmers in Malawi are increasingly aware of their rights and the importance of their own varieties. Watch video › |
Managing aflatoxins in groundnuts during drying and storage (15:40)Let us learn how to dry and store groundnuts to have clean, healthy groundnuts, free of aflatoxins. Watch video › |
Growing lupin without disease (12:21)Farmers in Bolivia show how to grow a good, healthy lupin (lupine) crop. Watch video › |
Making more money from onions (11:00) Let us learn from the experiences of some innovative farmers in Ghana who make more money: by producing onions when there are few of them on the market; by storing them until the price comes up again; and by selling directly to clients in urban markets. Watch video › |
The onion nursery (13:00)Onion seedlings need a healthy, loose soil. Add well-aged manure or compost. In the rainy season you need to raise the seedbed so the onion roots will not rot. If you use quality seed, most of the seed will germinate and you need much less of it. Watch video › |
How to make a fertile soil for onions (11:15)Many onion farmers who use mineral fertiliser often waste a lot of money and may even see their onions rot in storage. Watch video › |
Installing an onion field (11:40) Onions need rich, fertile soil. Only grow onions once in 3 years in the same field. Plant the onions on raised beds, especially in the rainy season. Transplant when the onions are about 6 weeks old. Plant the onions 10 centimetres apart. Watch video › |
Managing onion diseases (11:15)Different onion diseases can cause different symptoms, but most can be managed in the same way. Watch video › |
Harvesting and storing onions (14:25)To get a better price, farmers need to wait for the price to come up. So keep your onions from rotting while they are stored. Watch video › |
INTEGRATED APPROACH AGAINST FRUIT FLIES (13:00)Fruit flies inject their eggs in fruit. A single fruit fly can lay hundreds of eggs, which turn into white worms that eat the inside of fruit. If no action is taken, fruit flies quickly increase in numbers and can destroy your entire crop. Always combine different methods. Watch video › |
COLLECTING FALLEN FRUIT AGAINST FRUIT FLIES (13:00)One fruit fly can lay a few hundred eggs during her life. Fruit flies puncture the skin of fruit to lay their eggs, which cause the fruit to drop prematurely and rot. The worms that hatch from these eggs leave the spoilt fruit after one week and crawl into the soil where they develop into fruit flies. From one infested fruit many fruit flies can develop, so never leave any fruit on the ground in the open air. Watch video › |
KILLING FRUIT FLIES WITH FOOD BAITS (12:20)Food baits can be used as a spot spray or in bait stations. Fruit flies can detect food baits over short distances, up to 10 metres. Some baits contain a natural insecticide that is allowed in organic fruit production. Watch video › |
MASS TRAPPING OF FRUIT FLIES (13:00)Pheromones attract and help to kill the males, so they cannot mate with the females. And without mating, female fruit flies will not be able to lay eggs. To attract and kill the male flies with pheromones, you need to use traps to protect the products from the rain. Certain traps are sold in the shop, but you can also make your own traps. Watch video › |
WEAVER ANTS AGAINST FRUIT FLIES (11:00)It takes a few minutes for a fruit fly to find a suitable spot on the mango and inject her eggs under the skin of the fruit. But even in that short time, the weaver ants will have either chased her away or have captured her. Their scent also helps. When other insects detect the scent of weaver ants, they prefer to stay away. Watch video › |
PROMOTING WEAVER ANTS IN YOUR ORCHARD (13:00)If you don't have weaver ants in your orchard yet, collect all the nests from an ant colony and transfer them to one of your fruit trees. Help the ants to spread to more trees by connecting neighbouring trees with a string or stick. If ants from neighbouring trees fight, they are from different colonies and should be separated. Cut any branches that connect both trees. Apply ash to your arms and feet, or to the branch on which you will stand, to pick the fruit. Watch video › |
KEEPING MILK CLEAN AND FRESH (12:00)Modern dairy plants buy fresh milk from local farmers and herders to make into many different products. The company pays a fair price, but requires strict hygiene: they only buy milk that is clean and fresh. Watch video › |
TAKING MILK TO THE COLLECTION CENTRE (13:00)Milk spoils because of germs that are too small to see. The germs grow in the milk and spoil it. Germs multiply faster in warm milk than in cold milk. So move the milk to the collection centre within 30 minutes of milking, or the milk will start to spoil. Watch video › |
MANAGING CATTLE TICKS (12:40)Ticks are small creatures like insects that attach to the body of animals to suck their blood. Ticks cause diseases like skin lesions. The animals will become skinny and no longer produce milk. Watch video › |
KEEPING MILK FREE FROM ANTIBIOTICS (8:30)Antibiotics are drugs used for killing germs. The drugs can be given by mouth or injected into the animal's muscle or vein. These drugs go directly into the bloodstream. The blood carries the drug to the udder where it will get into the milk. Watch video › |
PURE MILK IS GOOD MILK (7:50)Modern dairy plants use pure, fresh milk to make milk powder, cheese, yoghurt and other products. The processing plant can only make its products from pure milk. When water is added, the milk is diluted, or weakened, and it is not good for processing into dairy products. Watch video › |
GRASS STRIPS AGAINST SOIL EROSION (12:20)Contour hedgerows slow the speed of water coming down the slope and allow the water to infiltrate. They also allow the washed away soil and nutrients to settle out above the hedgerows. You can plant many different grasses, depending on what you need and what is locally available. Cassava farmers in Thailand and Vietnam reduce soil erosion on sloping land by planting grass strips along contour lines. Watch video › |
GROWING CASSAVA ON SLOPING LAND (15:00)On sloping land, rainwater washes away the fertile soil and cassava yields will quickly decline. By reducing soil erosion and building up a healthy soil, you will continue to have a good cassava harvest for many years. Watch video › |
STAKING CLIMBING BEANS (15:15)Wooden stakes are the strongest support for climbing beans and can be used for many seasons, but wood is in high demand for construction and fuel wood. Farmers in southwest Uganda show us different ways of staking beans, with or without wood. Watch video › |
SOLAR DRYING OF CHILLIES (11:34)When chillies remain moist, moulds develop and the chillies will go bad. Some moulds produce a poison, called aflatoxin, which is toxic to people. To speed up drying and to dry your food hygienically you can use a solar dryer that uses the heat of the sun to dry fruits and vegetables. Solar dryers come in many shapes and sizes, but the principles stay the same. In this video, we will learn how to make and use a simple solar dryer to dry chillies. Watch video › |
MAKING CHILLI POWDER (10:30)Making chilli powder is a good way to make money that does not require very much time. Rural and urban woemn entrepreneurs explain what is needed to make a product that doesn't change, that is of the same quality, the same taste, the same colour and that is well presented. Watch video › |
MANAGING NEMATODES IN VEGETABLES (15:42)Nematodes are dreadful worms that live in the soil and in the roots of many different crops and weeds. Nematodes are easier to prevent than to control. The secret is to: grow healthy seedlings; destroy all sources of nematodes in and near your vegetable field; rotate with crops that are resistant to nematodes; and avoid introducing nematodes from other fields. Farmers in southern Benin show us how to control nematodes. Watch video › |
TRANSPLANTING CHILLIES (11:35)Give your seedlings a smooth transition from the seedbed to the field to increase your chances of getting a good crop. Watch video › |
INSECT NETS IN SEEDBEDS (11:35)Grasshoppers and snails can be a serious problem for any vegetable seedbed as they chew the tender stems of seedlings. Caterpillars can also cause damage, but more so on tomato and cabbage than on chilli. Insect nets help to protect vegetable seedlings in seedbeds from goats, chickens, snails and insect pests. Watch video › |
MAKING A CHILLI SEEDBED (14:30)Farmers in Benin learn us how to make a chilli seedbed to get strong, healthy seedlings. Strong and healthy seedlings are the best start for a healthy and productive crop. Watch video › |
SELECTING NEW RICE VARIETIES (20:00)Participatory varietal selection or PVS is a method that allows different stakeholders to get involved in identifying constraints and selecting new varieties out of the hundreds developed by rice breeders. During three years multiple stakeholders are involved in mother trials, baby trials and tasting tests. Watch video › |
MANAGING MEALYBUGS IN CASSAVA (16:00)Farmers in Thailand share practical tips to reduce the chance of mealybugs arriving in your cassava field. Special attention is paid to planting time; using healthy planting materials; disinfecting cassava stakes; protecting beneficial insects; and regularly observing the crop. Watch video › |
WOMEN IN EXTENSION (15:30)Food production in women's fields could easily increase by 30% if we paid attention to gender when dealing with these four areas: demand for training and advice; extension methods and content; access to land, inputs and credit; and access to markets. Watch video › |
TOMATO DRIP IRRIGATION (14:24)Farmer groups and individuals in Burkina Faso explain the benefits and challenges of a low-cost drip irrigation system, and show how such a system is set up. A social innovation is included that relates to organic matter management.
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STRIGA BIOLOGY (08:56)One of the major parasites is striga, a weed that sucks the sap and nutrients from cereal crops such as millet, sorghum and maize and causes great yield losses. A single striga plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. The seeds are so tiny that most farmers do not know they are seeds. They really look more like black dust. But don’t let their size fool you, they are dangerous.
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INTEGRATED APPROACH AGAINST STRIGA (08:32)Striga causes more damage to crops in poor soils, so both problems have to be tackled together. In this video we will learn why it is important to combine at least three control methods to reduce striga and obtain a good yield.
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JOINING HANDS AGAINST STRIGA (07:46)It is important to pull striga with your hands before the time it produces seeds and spreads and destroys the crop in the coming season. Farmers in Tanzania and Mali join hands to reduce the drudgery of hand pulling. Their community effort also helps them avoid spreading striga seeds to neighbouring fields.
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LET’S TALK MONEY (06:26)The economic analysis allows farmers to know how much money they earn or how much they will lose by changing from one technology to another, or from one practice to another. This helps them make a decision for the following year as to which practice they want to try out in their own fields. Watch video › |
COMPOSTING TO BEAT STRIGA (10:10)Compost is more powerful than manure. What is less known is that the micro-organisms in compost attack striga seeds in the soil. Compost also decreases the amount of striga that will sprout, and reduces its negative effect on cereal crops.
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ANIMALS AND TREES FOR A BETTER CROP (12:03)In semi-arid West Africa, farmers and herders explain why and how trees and livestock play a crucial role in obtaining a productive soil and crop. Watch video › |
GROW ROW BY ROW (9:00)Farmers in northern Nigeria are changing the way they intercrop their sorghum and millet with cowpea. By planting both crops at higher densities and in separate rows, and by applying some organic and mineral fertilizer, they harvest more and reduce damage by the parasitic weed striga. Watch video › |
STORING COWPEA SEED (12:00)Keeping quality legume seed has two major challenges. First, the seed easily loses its ability to germinate. And second, we are not the only ones who love legumes. Let’s listen to some farmers from northern Ghana. Watch video › |
SUCCEED WITH SEEDS (10:44)During weekly visits, and supported by their extension agent, a farmer field school in Tanzania learns how to test different sorghum varieties for striga resistance and evaluate how each one performs under different practices. Watch video › |
FISH FOR FOOD, FOOD FOR FISH (9:55)What is plankton, and why does it matter to stimulate plankton growth? Experienced farmers in Bangladesh explain how they manage water quality in ponds in low-lying paddy fields in between two cropping seasons, and why it is crucial for fish production. Watch video › |
VISION BECOMES REALITY (11:35)A youth association in Northern Ghana shows how self-determination and commitment backed by appropriate financial and business development services have helped members to generate additional income and sustain their group. Watch video › |
LAND PREPARATION (10:23) How do land preparation and water management affect crop establishment, weed management and rice yields? And why does a field need to be perfectly levelled to make the optimal use of fertilizers? In this video we will learn the answers to these and other questions. Watch video › |
RICE SEEDBED PREPARATION (17:42) In this video, we will learn how to prepare a seedbed, as establishing a good seedbed is needed to obtain strong seedlings and give our crop a good start. Let’s look at it step by step. Watch video › |
RICE TRANSPLANTING (14:15) “Yields are much higher when rice is transplanted. Compared to broadcasting, yields are two or three times higher.” Watch video › |
RICE WEED MANAGEMENT (16:15) As we know that effective weed control could increase yields by more than 50%, it surely is worthwhile taking a closer look. In this video we will learn how to control weeds most effectively. Watch video › |
MANAGING SOIL FERTILITY FOR HEALTHY RICE (18:44) In this video we will learn all about nutrients, soil structure, organic matter and how to maintain our soil fertile. All this will allow you to keep on cultivating your land and produce healthy crops. Watch video › |
SPOTTED SEED MEANS DISEASED SEED (07:29) There are many problems with poor seed, and spotted and discoloured seed are some of the major ones. Spotted seeds can't be removed by winnowing or seed floatation. They can only be removed by manual sorting. This video will show you how to clean seed as one of the interventions to produce and use healthy seed. Watch video › |
SEED CLEANING BY FLOATATION (06:35) Why not try this new technique of seed floatation before sowing your seed… “When the farmers take out their seed from storage and open the lid of the container, they may find flying insects. To confirm if the seed has been attacked, the farmer takes a sample of seed in his hand and on close observation they will find holes in the seed. Insects eat the endosperm - the inside of the seed - so these seeds become light and easily float on the water.” Watch video › |
WELL-DRIED SEED IS GOOD SEED (06:20) Farmers face great difficulties with drying their seeds because seed absorbs moisture from the soil. As a result, seed quality deteriorates, and no-one can expect good yields by using poor quality seed. In this video you can see how farmers of Maria village solved this problem by themselves. Now they are no longer worried about drying seed, even during the rainy season. Watch video › |
SEED PRESERVATION TECHNIQUES (07:05) Based on hard real-life experience, the women of Maria village have devised some very effective techniques for seed preservation. Let's learn from some of these innovative women … Watch video › |
IMPROVING RICE QUALITY (13:26) “…culture of quality is very important for us to push back the dumping from outside, if we don’t do it; whether its from Africa, whether it’s from my mothers kitchen, people are not going to buy it, so we have to become competitive, we have to develop competitive advantage and quality is the most important element in competitive advantage and, it’s within our reach, we can do it.” Watch video › |
CASHING IN WITH PARBOILED RICE (12:37) Although rice is highly nutritious, a lot of the quality is lost during processing. This results in poor-quality rice on the market, so consumers turn to imported rice. In this video we will learn about parboiling, a way to improve the quality of rice by treating the paddy with warm water and steam. There are many good reasons for parboiling rice. The market for quality rice is growing. Food vendors and restaurant owners start to use parboiled rice because it is already clean and easy to cook. Most importantly, parboiled rice is more nutritious than non-parboiled rice. Watch video › |