Integral agriculture
Integral agriculture, also referred to as biological or ecological farming, aims to achieve effective, low-cost production within a system of integrated cycles. Here, biogas technology can provide the link between animal husbandry and crop farming.
Fig. 3.8: Flow diagram for integral farming with a biogas plant (Source: GTZ 1985)
Fig. 3.9: Site plan of the Bouaké Ecofarm in Côte d'lvoire. 1 Impounding reservoir for rainwater, 2 Fallow land, 3 Manioc (1st year), 4 Yams and Manioc (2nd year), 5 Farmhouse, 6 Stables, 7 Biogas plant, 8 Sugar cane, 9 Water reservoir, 10 Fishpond, 11 Vegetable garden, 12 Various food plants (Source: GTZ 1985)Consider, for example, the planning of a GTZ project in Cote d'Ivoire. The project included the development of a model farm intended to exploit as efficiently as possible the natural resources soil, water, solar energy and airborne nitrogen.
The integral agricultural system "Eco-ferme" (ecofarm) comprises the production elements gardening, crop farming (for food and animal fodder), stock farming (for meat and milk) and a fishpond. A central component of such closed-loop agricultural production is the biogas plant, which produces both household energy and digested slurry for use in the fishpond and as a fertilizer.
The average family-size "eco-ferme" has 3 ha of farmland with the following crops:
Four milk cows and three calves are kept year-round in stables. The cattle dung flows via collecting channels directly into a 13 m³ biogas plant. The biogas plant produces 3.5-4 m³ biogas daily for cooking and lighting. Part of the digested slurry is allowed to flow down the natural gradient into an 800 m² fishpond in order to promote the growth of algae, which serves as fish food. The remaining digested slurry is used as crop fertilizer.
Fig. 3.8: Flow diagram for integral farming with a biogas plant (Source: GTZ 1985)
Fig. 3.9: Site plan of the Bouaké Ecofarm in Côte d'lvoire. 1 Impounding reservoir for rainwater, 2 Fallow land, 3 Manioc (1st year), 4 Yams and Manioc (2nd year), 5 Farmhouse, 6 Stables, 7 Biogas plant, 8 Sugar cane, 9 Water reservoir, 10 Fishpond, 11 Vegetable garden, 12 Various food plants (Source: GTZ 1985)
The integral agricultural system "Eco-ferme" (ecofarm) comprises the production elements gardening, crop farming (for food and animal fodder), stock farming (for meat and milk) and a fishpond. A central component of such closed-loop agricultural production is the biogas plant, which produces both household energy and digested slurry for use in the fishpond and as a fertilizer.
The average family-size "eco-ferme" has 3 ha of farmland with the following crops:
| Fodder plants | |
| Panicum (for the rainy season) | 0.15 ha |
| Sugar cane (for the dry season) | 0.50 ha |
| Leucaena and brachiaria (mixed culture) | 0.50 ha |
| Panicum, brachiaria and centrosema (mixed culture) | 0.50 ha |
| Food plants | |
| Manioc | 0.20 ha |
| Corn | 0.40 ha |
| Yams | 0.10 ha |
| Potatoes - beans | 0.10 ha |
| Vegetables | 0.20 ha |
| Rice and miscellaneous crops | 0.17 ha |
