Top 5 Tips for Green Agriculture

1. Use unmodified seeds. Genetically modified seeds will cause a change in the soil and make it lose its fertility. Consuming food from modified seeds can also potentially cause harm to our bodies.

2. Avoid chemical pesticides. Using natural pesticides will keep insects away but not kill them.

3. Use rainwater. Collect rainwater in large buckets and tubs and use it to water plants in the dry season.

4. Dig deep. Dig twice as deep when planting seeds as this will allow the root to penetrate deeper into the soil to get more oxygen.

5. Use compost. Compost is made from animal manure, leaves, grass and fruit peels. To make good compost, make sure it is aerated and watered adequately. This compost will help increase the fertility of the soil, save water and reduce plant diseases.

Making your own compost heap

IF you are into home gardening, some of your household wastes can be turned into natural fertiliser. There are plenty of organic compounds from the kitchen and lawn that can be processed into a natural compost.

But before you take the dive, here's what you'll need to know - waste materials like discarded vegetables, meat products like poultry and fish can be mixed with cut grass and leaves to form a compost heap.

And if you keep pets, their poop can be used as a catalyst in making the natural fertiliser.

Avoid kitchen wastes like animal fat and skin which attract "bad" microbes that yield a foul odour and takes a much longer time to break down. Bad odour is an indication of a failed compost heap.

Just make sure that the moisture content isn't too high by keeping the organic matter under shade or in a bin where a lid can be added to prevent rain water from destroying the compost.

The compost bin should be stirred every alternate day to add in new batches of airborne anabolic and anerobic bacterias.

To get the most out of it, keep two sets of bins for the decomposition and fermentation to take place. A complete process will take about two months.