Beauty: 3,000 year old soil enrichment technique, repackaged & rediscovered.

Jason Aramburu of re:char (re:char) via Fast Company

It’s called Terra Preta (Portuguese for Black Earth).

The origins go back near 3,000 years with the indigenous peoples of the Amazonia, and it is the practice of producing charcoal and implanting directly into the soil in the technique of enriching the soil for more productive farming results.

re:char is one of the current re-incarnations of this technique, trying to make a viable impact for farmers in Kenya (and other poor soil lands), and a viable bio complimentary business.

The results are in the development phase and there’s much to test and distribute.

“In Kenya, we produce and sell a device called a ru-tuba kiln. In Kiswahili, “rutuba” means soil fertility. The kiln costs us $25-30 to produce and we sell it to a farmer for less than the cost of two bags of fertilizer. Most farmers in a year purchase 2-3 bags of fertilizer and that’s typically the largest single purchase that they make”, Jason Aramburu, CEO of re:char stated.

Read more of the Interview by David D. Burstein:    Fast Company