The importance of BOCASHI in organic agriculture

Agritech Solutions has always defended that a soil must have life and that all our efforts during its cultivation must be aimed at maintaining its balanced exploitation in the long term.

For this reason the use of organic fertilizers is very important, as they improve the structures of the soil through the incorporation of nutrients and microorganisms regulating the pH of the soil.  With these fertilisers it is possible to reduce the use of external agents, often inaccessible to isolated communities, and to increase the efficiency of available resources, in a sustainable manner.

The Bocashi organic fertilizer

The Bocashi, is a type of organic fertilizer, where mixtures of different materials or organic residues are used and that in turn is enriched with minerals and microbiology in a natural way in its fermentation process. It is an organic fertilizer of Japanese origin (“bokashi” means “fermented fertilizer” in Japanese).

Basically, in the bokashi, microorganisms break down the simplest fraction of organic material, such as sugars, starches and proteins, releasing their nutrients in good conditions of humidity and temperature.

Main advantages

The production of this fermented fertilizer has some advantages compared to other organic fertilizers:

  • No toxic gases are formed and no bad odours arise.
  • The volume produced can be adapted to the local needs of the farmers.
  • It does not cause problems in storage and transport.
  • The product is produced in a relatively short period (depending on the environment in 12 to 24 days).
  • The product can be used immediately after preparation.
  • Low production costs due to the use of local materials

How is the bocachi produced?

There are two well-defined stages in the process of making bocachi.

The first stage is the fermentation of the fertilizer components when the temperature can reach up to 70-75° C due to increased microbial activity. Subsequently, the temperature of the fertilizer drops due to exhaustion or reduction of the energy source.

The second stage is the moment when the fertilizer goes through a stabilization process and only the materials that present the greatest difficulty in degrading in the short term stand out and then reach their ideal state for immediate use.