Stop the Smoke - Reduce Global Warming

The annual summer rains are slowing and mountain villages around Chiang Mai are recovering from the flood waters. Phrao rice fields were flooded but the orchards were spared.

Our Biochar team managed to keep making biochar from the Longan orchard pruning as the crop was harvested, to avoid open field burning of the branches and leaves.

In our local program, we move from farm to farm and process the biochar, giving it to the farmer to use around the trees and share with other farmers with less feedstock. This season, the team in Phrao District has made and applied over 200 Tonnes of biochar, sequestering 400 Tonnes of carbon.

We’re looking ahead for ways to expand production and ensure we minimize any emissions from greenhouse gases. In that regard, we have contracted to test 2 machines, starting in January. Wastex has been certified by Carbon Standards International to produce these small industrial kilns with a closed-loop system for making biochar.

Every day, individual smallholder Artisan biochar farmers are making a difference in our atmosphere as they stop open-field burning. The new small industrial equipment will expand our capacity and provide an alternate model when individual farmers are not making their own biochar but are happy to use it to renew their soils.

Following up on new advocates of biochar, Hilltribe Organics posted its first photos of the biochar it made in a trough, after the Warm Heart training. "Celebrating the first biochar at Hilltribe Organics. Biochar production is a crucial element of the Regenerative Organics Valley project. Leftovers from corn, our major chicken feed, are burnt in a Kontiki pyrolysis process. The resulting biochar will be used to produce organic fertilizer, together with chicken manure, and returned to corn farmers in the area completing a circular agricultural model."

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Warm Heart team is dodging bullets from rebel forces, getting vaccines against monkeypox, and all the while training farmers to make and use biochar.

They have provided rabbits that multiply rapidly as a food source, added hand-made biochar briquettes to avoid cutting firewood, and many other uses for biochar. See the photo of the goats enjoying a salt lick with biochar to aid their digestion.

We’ll keep you posted as our equipment arrives and we continue to train in Africa and Thailand.

Thank you for your continuing support as our program continues and evolves.

Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Biochar Team

As we continue to seek sustainable solutions to reduce open-field burning in Thailand and across Asia, our efforts have recently centered around the promotion and production of biochar. As demand increases, there will be less open field burning and less smoke in the region, fewer chemicals in the food chain, and improved crop yields.

Biochar Academy in Chiang Mai
In collaboration with the International Biochar Initiative and ECHO Asia, Warm Heart co-sponsored a week-long Biochar Training Academy from May 5-11 at ECHO’s conference center in Chiang Mai. This event brought together participants from across Asia and Africa, aiming to extend our network and foster additional biochar production initiatives in Thailand. Some of the highlights:

• Sharing of projects from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia: Bamboo waste into biochar in Thailand, Rice husks to fertilizer in Cambodia, Industrial designs for kilns in the Philippines, 
• We had a tour of the Chiang Mai University project to improve road safety with biochar.  Planting vegetation with biochar in the steep hillsides of Phuket has stopped erosion with a nature-based solution. The increased use of biochar in asphalt has acceptance by the government and is being road-tested.
• One local farmer is doing intensive production on a small plot of land with biochar mixed into his organic fertilizer. A simple app on his phone lets him minimize water usage for watering the crops.

Production and training in Phrao and Mae Chaem
In Phrao, our biochar production in 2023  from longan tree pruning successfully averted over five hundred tons of CO2, with the production of three hundred tons of biochar and we will do at least that much this year. 

Aom has been working on efficiency and productivity improvements in the biochar production process.  She has also been training new groups of farmers interested in making and using biochar in Phrao and Chiang Dao. 

In Mae Chaem, farmers have been producing biochar and compost from corn waste. This keeps the huge mountains of corn water from rotting or being burned, both processes which produce greenhouse gases. 

Encouraging Biochar in Nigeria
In June, Michael embarked on a training mission for the Afri-Decarbonization Company (ADC) in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Despite initial delays due to visa issues, Michael conducted three-day training courses for a diverse audience, including local officials, University of Calabar administrators, faculty, and students, as well as large groups of farmers and representatives from eight Local Government Areas.

During his mission, Michael met with key stakeholders, including the Secretary to the Governor of Cross River State (the Permanent Secretary) and the Acting and Serving Presidents of the University of Cross River. A significant outcome of this mission was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ADC and the University, which ensures comprehensive university support for the ADC program.

Thank You

Your unwavering support has been the backbone of our success. We are deeply grateful for your contributions and belief in our mission. Together, we are creating a healthier environment and empowering farmers with sustainable practices.

Best wishes for a productive and safe summer!

Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Biochar Teams

Links:

• UNICROSS Partnership For Food Security, Improved Farmer QOL