ICS Manual
Naturland has been working with smallholder organisations since 1989. Consequently we have been developing a concept to enable the implementation of a functional and well-organised Internal Control System (ICS), as an important tool to reduce the annual costs of external inspection. Naturland has published one of the first handbooks for the "implementation of ICS in smallholder organisations". The handbook is available in English and Spanish. It is free of charge for all members and ensures, that smallholder organisations have access to the information needed in order to implement an Internal Control System (ICS).
Cocoa Manual – 30 pages on cocoa cultivation
The production of organically cultivated cocoa is increasingly gaining importance. A clear indication of this is the amount of produce certified to the Naturland standards, which has increased from 400 tons in 2003 to 7,000 tons in 2010. We are pleased with this development and have written a manual about the organic cultivation of cocoa. This manual covers all stages of organic cocoa production and processing and cites examples of successful cocoa co-operatives.
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Naturland Cocoa Manual (PDF, 4,67 MB)
Coffee rust - Background and Strategies
Coffee rust was first discovered in 1868 on cultivated coffee trees in Sri Lanka. This disease is caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix. It attacks arabica strains and causes the trees to shed their leaves and even whole plantations to die off. The coffee rust caused the end of coffee production in Sri Lanka. Today coffee rust is still a major threat to coffee growers in many parts of the world. In the following documents we provide background information and strategies to combat coffee rust in organic coffee cultivation:
› Producer information coffee rust (PDF, 1,0 MB)
› Naturland presentation about coffee rust (PDF, 7,8 MB)
› Naturland poster coffee rust (PDF, 2,8 MB)
Vermicompost - high-grade fertiliser for improved soil fertility
The use of compost can make a crucial contribution to the maintenance and improvement of soil fertility. Composting is an ancient method of organic fertilisation used in agriculture and gardening: in south-east Asia, for example, soil fertility has been maintained in this way for the past six thousand years. Worm compost (also known as vermicompost, from “vermis”, the Latin for “worm”) is an especially high-grade and nutrient-rich fertiliser. Black substrate is what remains of organic matter after being broken down by micro-organisms, and especially by worms. Many tea and coffee growers keep small herds of cattle for extra income and use the dung produced as feed substrate for worm composting. The valuable and nutrient-rich worm compost is then employed as a fertiliser on the tea and coffee plantations, thereby achieving sustained increases in harvest yields (just one example of how recycling management is possible in a very confined space).
Manual for garden composting
This manual shows hot to compost, which materials can be composted and the conditions for optimal composting.
› Manual for garden composting (PDF, 1,2 MB)
Manual for prepairing Bocashi, an organic fertilicer
Bocashi originally comes from Japan and is very easy and quick to produce. Within 20 days it is possible without major (financial) efforts to get a good quality fertilizer. Becausee most of the ingredients are by-products of agriculture, these are easy to get.
› Manual for preparing Bocashi (PDF, 380 KB)
Manual for prepairing Biol, a liquid, organic fertilizer
Biol is a liquid fertilizer of high quality, which can be produced within one to four months, depending on the location and the season. It allows us to increase the quality and the rate of yield of our crop and hence the income.
