Kiwi technology

World reaps benefits of Kiwi technology

A New Zealand developed technology has been helping farmers around the world to improve productivity and save costs but few have acknowledged its origin.

Zero Tillage technology was developed in Massey University primarily to help New Zealand’s agriculturists to produce more for less through better soil management, efficient use of fertilisers and other chemicals.

But its benefits have accrued to the US, Canada and the Indian subcontinent.

Pakistan’s agricultural scientist Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Gill said the technology, pioneered by politician-turned professor Dr Ashraf Choudhary, is being used in more than 15 countries.

“Apart from soil erosion, drought has been a major hindrance in crop production. Experience has shown that excessive tillage removes surface residues protecting the soil. Zero tillage is therefore a major boon,” he said in Auckland last week.

Dr Gill is director general of agriculture in Pakistan’s Punjab state and regularly participates in international conferences on yield improvement, soil conservation and crop production.

He presented a paper on changing from conservative to conservation agriculture at a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation conference in Griffith in New South Wales.

He said the world owed a lot to New Zealand for inventing a technology that promoted conservation agriculture.

“Sustained improvement in crop productivity will help developing countries to foster food security, reduce poverty and improve livelihood. The impact of zero till technology is immense,” he said.

Indiana based Conservation Technology Information Centre professors John Hebblethwaite and Dan Towery agreed the US had to learn from the experience of other countries in employing ‘no-till’ cultivation.

“Reducing input cost while increasing productivity and value on each acre is key to profitable participation in agriculture. No-till has provided the opportunity for many producers to reduce input cost and increase productivity per acre,” they said.

Their study found an increasing number of farmers adopting no-till technology, with Argentina leading the rest of the world, followed by Canada, the US and Brazil.

Dr Gill said soil resources suffer from degradation, perpetrated by excessive tillage.

“Zero tillage seeding is being adopted by producers to achieve this goal,” he said.

He claimed that the technology had helped achieve significant reduction in land preparation costs by about PK Rs 3,000 ($69) per hectare in his home state.

“The use of such technology is more critical for countries other than New Zealand that depend on irrigation. We have found that up to 25% of water can be saved,” he said.

Three years ago, the New Zealand Overseas Development Agency (NZODA) funded a travel seminar along with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to educate farmers in the Punjab on the benefits of zero till technology.

“The seminar has woken us to the potential of our lands,” some farmers said.

Dr Gill said Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf was impressed with the technology and set apart PK Rs one billion (about $23 million) out of the country’s defense budget to the country’s agricultural sector.