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Humus Project: THE WAY OF A REALITY IN
AGREEMENT
This process will be realized in a crush in kolchoz “10th anniversary for the
OCTOBER REVOLUTION” in MOLCIANY (Recitsa province, Gomel region, Belarus).
The crush found after 2 years of research it’s a grass and metal structures of
10.000 mq with an heater able to maintain a minimum internal temperature of more
than 15°C when outside there are –35°C. Inside of it cucumbers are cultivated
twice a year (harvest in June and Sept). 26 people work on it.
In the crush the main experiment of the HUMUS project will be led in order to
produce non-contaminated products in a contaminated area.
2000 crush mq will be used. The agronomic technique that is proposed is the so
called ”soilless ” technique. It consists of the possibility of producing plants
without its traditional component which is the soil. We have already in ancient
times examples of cultivation without soil (there are tracks in egyptian
hieroglyphs before Christ examples in Babilonias gardens and in Mexico
(Atzechi).
This technique allows the development of plants without the utilization of the
soil, using more or less inert means as a substratum (sand, peat, vermiculite,
pumice – stone) in which a solution containing all the nutritional elements
necessary for the plants is added.
As far the Chernobyl accident contaminated areas are concerned, the “soilless ”
cultivation is now the only one which answers to the need of freeing cultivation
from the soil radioactive contamination and ecologically it’s justified by
environmental conditions which are not suitable for traditional cultivations.
The proposed methods are the “substratum cultivation” and the “floating system”.
For the substratum cultivations a peat will be used (a non – contaminated peat
of course) which is present in all belarusian territories. The use of a
substratum method is relatively easy and economically sustainable at a local
level. The HUMUS philosophy wants to use local resources both human and
technological in order to create new forms of “economic colonialism” and not to
allow, with illusion of rapid solutions or through co-operation and strong
contingency, the rising of conditions which could not permit on adequate course
and on autonomy of scientific potentialities, human and cultural present in
Belarus.The use of a peat in a vase concerns the cultivation of cucumbers and
tomatoes with he aim of respecting nourishment habits (it is the cucumbers case)
and giving impulses to cultivations previously present but not yet adapted to
the contamination reality (it is the tomatoes case).
The floating system or the cultivation system in deep waters it’s instead a
cultivation technique in “ hydroponic ” relatively easy which allows to grow
plants on movable floating supports inside tanks built in a very simple way and
filled in with water and nutritional solution. Leaf species will be cultivated
(lettuce) which represent new element looked for the deficiency of present
nutritional contribution in a vegetable field in Belarus.
Before starting the real experiments belarusian technicians and agronomists will
be formed with specific stages in italian institutes of research.
The aims and the results of the Molciany agronomic experiment are the following:
1) The first result will be valued according to “life quality”. As we have already
mentioned the soilless cultivation is the only one which allows to free
cultivation from the soil radioactive contamination and to give back to
inhabitants….. once expropriated by the nuclear accident. The parameter of
valuation will be the harvesting of “ clean vegetable”
2) The impulse to kolchoz micro-economy may be valued, using the off soil technique
with a productive growth of about 40 – 45%.
3)
The chosen cultural species allow in protected cultivation more annual cycles.
4)
The initial low costs, the utilization of substratum and the floating system and
their non – complexity, the utilization of local materials grants a management
and financial autonomy of the techniques proposed at Molciany and their
exportation
5) The attention on kitchen-garden cultivations represents in a way a restitution
of traditional and cultural elements . We have to consider, indeed, that the
Gomel region (like many other areas in Belarus) it’s an authentic steppe
converted into cereal cultivation according to soviet planned economy which
transformed traditional farmers into state workers. The kitchen-garden
cultivation was born in a slavy area and it’s part then of this cultural
tradition and of this ethnic instinct while corn is not a local product but
comes from south-east |