The Journal
Dolores Rotary Club joins Needful Provisions and Santa Ana Rotary Club in El Salvador in supporting a biochar project in El Salvador.
Experts in El Salvador will manufacture biochar kilns for farmers with an urgent need to improve soil fertility. Project director Dr. Odette Varela Milla will instruct and coach farmers in making biochar and blending it with soil in the root zone.
Most of the world’s food crops are produced by small farms that buy and transport large quantities of commercial fertilizers to help sustain soil fertility for crop production.
Biochar can be made safely and efficiently and is bio-activated with soil microbes to be used as a soil additive. Less than 10% of the soil in the root zone of crop rows needs bioactivated biochar.
A Rotary Global grant is funding the project with $10,000 from Rotary Clubs, with a $10,000 match from southern Colorado Rotary District 5470, which includes Dolores, and Rotary Foundation adding $15,000.
About 18 Rotary Clubs in District 5470 are needed to make donations of $500 or $1,000 to reach the needed club total of $10,000. Rotary Clubs will receive plans for making bioactivated biochar, project photos and project information articles giving club credits.