Moshi, TZ – Tupendane garden shop update – 23 Aug 2013

The garden shop needs to have a reliable supply of rice hulls because the shop team burns the hulls to make Rice Hull Charcoal (RHC), which thy use in compost making and soil preparation for the family vegetable gardens.

A 50kg sack of RHC is mixed into the soil, along with compost, for each vegetable garden bed.  RHC is a valuable soil conditioner that increases PH for acidic soils, drainage in clay soils, and water absorption in sandy soils.  It also gives the nutrient creating micro-organisms a place to live.  RHC can bring about a 10% to 40% increase in crop yields because of the above benefits.

Naomi making rice hull charcoal

The dry season brings a supply challenge to the Tupendane shop after the rice harvest when the rice hull supply can run out at some rice mills.  The shop has decided to order and pay for the rice hull in advance in order to reserve enough to assure a supply for their future compost production and garden implementations.