Participatory trials of on-farm biochar production and use in Tamale, Ghana

Urban agriculture is characterized by fast rotation of cropping cycles and high inputs and outputs on relatively small areas of land. Depletion of soil organic carbon and low nutrient use efficiency are severe agricultural constraints in the sandy soils of West Africa. We hypothesized that such an intensive system would provide ideal preconditions for the use of biochar, that biochar would enhance yields in urban horticulture, and that farmers would be able to produce biochar for on-farm use in Tamale, Ghana. Therefore, we studied the opportunities and challenges of biochar using a semi-participatory research approach. Working with 12 participant farmers, we defined research questions which were relevant to their livelihoods and collected qualitative and observational data, which determined the selection of variables to measure quantitatively. Different quality parameters such as leaf color and stiffness of lettuce were important to farmers and marketers when assessing the agronomic benefits of biochar. By adding biochar to their normal agricultural practice farmers were able to increase lettuce yields by 93%. This remarkable increase might be partially caused by farmers’ improved management of biochar plots: they concentrated their resources where they expected to yield the largest returns. Using a simple top-lit updraft gasifier, a special chimney for rice husk carbonization, it was relatively simple for farmers to produce biochar in the field, with an efficiency of 15–33%. These stoves’ payback times were between 1 and 2 months. Yet, rather than the efficiency of the carbonization technology, often emphasized in biochar research, the availability of feedstock and labor considerations determine the technology selected by farmers for biochar production. This is a novel approach to considering the economic realities of farmers in a semi-participatory appraisal where farmers both produce and apply biochar. This is crucial in order to understand and identify meaningful and economically viable uses of biochar.