Folks,
The people of CODEP often ask for support in buying fertilizer. Réné Décime, as an Animator (leader), regularly underlines, repeats, emphasizes, and reminds us of this request. Workers are faced with extremely barren soil on the long deforested mountainsides.
To make his point, he ran a demonstration with me using three different sets of nine-month-old trees as follows:
With NO fertilizer
With commercial bagged fertilizer
With organic matter.
We tracked the growth for six months which included a rainy season. The trees were measured every week.
The results:
Those with no fertilizer showed no discernable changes.
Those with commercial fertilizer averaged an inch of growth.
The Winner: Those with composted fertilizer averaged TWO inches of growth.
Réné is right. We must find the resources to help supply CODEP with organic fertilizer. We have not had the financial leeway to do that in recent years, but with your help we hope to do so going forward. Please remember CODEP on this Arbor Day and send a contribution.
Michael Anello, Executive Director
A young tree before being fertilized. Compare it in size to the vetiver grass that is next to it.
A young tree that has been fertilized with organic fertilizer. Note its size relative to the vetiver grass!