Camellia : Working with Nature rather than against it in Tanzania

As a Group we have great interest in research and development in improving agricultural techniques and following the best current practices by working in ways which allow commercial agriculture to become more sustainable and realise the benefits of working with the natural environment.

OUR TANZANIAN FARMS

The Group's recently acquired farms in Tanzania have presented an opportunity to explore the benefits that regenerative agriculture can bring.

Prior to the Group taking over the farms, they were used for livestock operations with much of the land under pasture. The challenge was to establish the avocado orchards whilst maintaining the integrity of these pastures and not removing the soil cover. Ploughing up these pastures would have led to degradation of the soil structure, release of carbon and exposing the soils to the risk of wind and water erosion.

With over 30 years' experience living and working in Tanzania, Luke Edwards, Managing Director of Eastern Produce Tanzania, has a wealth of knowledge from agricultural engineering to corporate agriculture specifically in cereal production, where zero till techniques are prominent. The aim is to plant the avocado orchards using regenerative agriculture techniques taking a holistic approach, working with nature rather than against it to establish a biodiverse ecosystem within the orchards, creating a perfect environment for producing healthy, productive and sustainable avocado crops.

"Agriculture has gone full circle. 50 years ago biodiversity was inherently part of the agricultural production system with rotations and mixed livestock and cropping farms, by the 70's it was much more industrialised and focussed on mono- cropping and now we are going back to where we came from with an understanding of the reasons for it."

Luke Edwards, MD, EPT