I BIA INTRO

Bio-Intensive Agriculture (BIA) is a kind of organic farming rooted in maintaining soil fertility/ living soil. BIA is called Bio-Intensive because it maintains a natural biological balance between soil, nutrients and plants. It employs crop rotation and intensive planting to maximize harvest levels while protecting the natural soil health and the local environment.

In much of Tanzania, farmers don’t have the money to use pesticides and fertilizers. However in wealthier areas like the Arumeru district, which includes Arusha, farmers use chemicals heavily with few regulations or precautions. Even in areas where farmers don’t use chemicals there is a need for BIA training, as farmers are struggling with nutrient-deficient soil.

Important aspects of BIA include:
Composting
Double-dug, raised beds
Intensive planting
Carbon and calorie farming
The use of open–pollinated seeds

The three core activities are:
1.Composting, to restore nutrients to the soil
2. Double-digging to break up the hard pan several centimeters below the surface, facilitating the flow of air and water and the penetration of roots
3.Companion Planting / Crop Rotation, to provide a mix of plants - encouraging growth, deterring pests and diseases, and conserving soil and space.

The combination of these activities enables plants to access nutrients locked deep in the soil, and conserves soil for future generations.

Double digging has been practiced by at least 2 main groups of people over time; market gardeners of France, and farmer groups in China. The French and Chinese growers worked in areas of high population density with little available land. Both groups developed double digging as a way to maximize their yield from a small area. This intensive method has been revived in the United States recently, notably at the University of California at Santa Cruz and with John Jeavons’ organization, Ecology Action.

BIA brings bigger harvests in smaller amounts of space, with a marginal use of resources. Vegetables are healthier to eat, and the costs of production are less. Money not spent on chemicals can instead be spent on other things; like children’s education.
In addition to compost and double-digging, BIA employs a number of methods known to traditional farmers but neglected in recent years, such as:
Crop rotation: relieves mineral drain on the soil
Companion Planting: discourages pests / improves soil cover
Liquid manure: made as a top dressing
Beneficial plants: lure away or deter pests from crops
Natural pesticide sprays: made of plants, weeds and herbs
Raised beds: allow closer spacing of crops
Water harvesting: retains water during the dry season
Planting leguminous shrubs and trees (Agro-forestry): adds nitrogen to the soil / provides fodder, fuel wood and fence posts

Why should we encourage Bio-Intensive instead of using chemicals?

Chemicals don’t feed the soil, but provide a treatment like “medicine” for the plants or animal so that it can survive in poor soils.

Bio-Intensive farming on the other hand, restores the soil in order to feed the crops and restore their natural disease/pest resistance. Compost multiplies soil’s ability to absorb water, and adds a range of nutrients and microorganisms. Careful transplanting also helps to promote uninterrupted root growth and encourages vigorous, healthy plants. The right amount of water throughout the plants’ growing period also reduces the likelihood of stress.

Dangers of Chemicals:
Chemicals can poison water sources and the soil
Have residual effects that can accumulate in the human bodies causing disease
Are indiscriminant, killing beneficial insects, worms and microorganisms either directly or by their effects on environment
Create waste by leaching or by the formation of insoluble compounds
Are expensive, and use up resources, such as fuel, to make
Can be toxic, especially to children, the elderly and the ill, i.e. HIV+
Require special training so as not to get poisoned or burnt-
instructions in Tanzania are often lost, ignored, or misunderstood
Become less effective over time as insects and disease develop resistance
Give crops overdoses, not exact requirements
Flood vegetables and water supplies with excess nitrate1

It is sometimes claimed that because compost contains a lower percentage of the necessary minerals, phosphorus and potassium, which are often deficient in soil, it is second-rate. This misses the point. BIA techniques are not designed to add minerals; they are adding food for the microbes who will release the minerals needed.