The Soil Fertility Project (SFP) in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, is working to provide sustainable agricultural technologies to rural farmers to increase the quality and fertility of their soils. It is our belief that adding biochar, conditioned with fertiliser from anaerobic biodigestion would improve the quality and productivity of the local soils while at the same time reducing the need for inorganic chemical fertilisers. The large scale use of dry and wet agricultural waste in the biochar pyrolysis and biodigestion processes respectively could also help enormously to reduce both the financial and enviromental costs of waste disposal.
We are aware that the benefits of applying charcoal to soil are not yet fully understood. Nevertheless, we believe that the practical exploration of the possibilities of biochar is both desirable and necessary.
This website aims to provide a brief outline of the history of the project to date, and a summary of the technologies that will be used in the process. There is particular emphasis on the practical organisation of the project and how we currently envisage it will work as a fully functioning, economic, social, holistic process.
This information is in the format of a ‘project book’ or journal. You can read it from the beginning, as a story or alternatively you might prefer to browse different sections using the headings at the top of each page.
The information provided on this site is by no means exhaustive and is meant to serve only as an introduction to the SFP. For more information, to discuss any interests or queries you may have about the project, please go to the contact section.