Brother Mbye,

Not a chemist but have a farm in Senegal...I have already started using
this technique on my crops, and inshallah it will afford some protection.
It is well worth reading the full article
(http://tcdc.undp.org/tcdcweb/experiences/vol4/Neem%20biopesticides.pdf).
Apart from the technical details the authour makes some very important
points, especially relevant to farmers in our sub-region, and not just
about the neem tree, but about a general approach.

So often we forget that solutions to problems such as locusts, drought
etc. did not just come about through Western ideas and technologies. For
countless centuries people were able to face these natural hazards and
s
urvive them without millions dying of hunger.

Indeed many of these technologies either do not work well, have serious
side-effects, increase dependancy on imported item, or are based on
knowledge taken originally from the traditional science developed by the
forefathers of the same farmers to whom they products are marketted (and
not paying any copyright). But the common approach is so often that of;

'Cheeeyii, toubab bi mo bari xamxam' and a total loss of confidence in
traditional knowledge, which is often described as 'local' as if that term
was some sort of insult.

I think it is a duty of those of us who are privaledge to have the
education to read and have access to things like the internet to research
and re-validate effective traditional knowledge and promote it's use
before some American multi-national company tries to patent it. This has
been the case with neem and has been contested
in courts, a US company
claimed that it 'owned' the patent to the neem tree...in India...and that
anyone wanting to use it to develop its use would have to pay money to
them!!!! Can you imagine this happening in Gambia for something
like 'jittah'.. don't laugh it could happen... anyway Brother please take
time to read the full article, and please circulate it to anyone you can
think of who might make use of this knowledge.

Jamm ak xewel

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 12:06:45 -0700, baboucarr Sey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Thanks brother are you a chemist ?
>
>Cheers
>
>Mbye Sey
>
>Tony Cisse <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>sees all my extracts din't post so here is the rest:
>
>http://tcdc.undp.org/tcdcweb/experiences/vol4/Neem%20biopesticides.pdf.
>
>Neem leaf extract
>For 5 litres of water, 1 kg of gr
een neem leaf is required. Since the
>quantity of leaves required for the preparation of this extract is quite
>high (nearly 80 kg are required for 1 hectare), this can be used for
>nursery and kitchen gardens. The leaves are soaked overnight in water. The
>next day, they are ground and the extract is filtered. The extract is
>suited for use against leaf- eating caterpillars, grubs, locusts and
>grasshoppers. To the extract, emulsifier is also added. Remarks: The
>advantage of using neem leaf extract is that it is available throughout
>the year. There is no need to boil the extract since boiling reduces the
>azadirachtin content. Hence the cold extract is more effective. Some
>farmers prefer to soak the leaves for about one week, but this creates a
>foul smell.
>General remarks about spraying
>• Spraying should be undertaken in the morning or late in the
>evening. Under hot conditions, the f
requency of spraying should be
>increased. In winter, spraying once in 10 days and every day in the rainy
>season is recommended.
>• Insects lay eggs on the underside of the leaves. Hence it is
>important to spray under the leaves also.
>• While using a power sprayer, the quantity of water used should be
>halved.
>• It is better to use low concentrations of extracts frequently.
>• As a general guideline, it can be said that each acre of land to
>be protected can be sprayed with 60 litres of ready-to-use solution (not
>the concentrate). Of course, the volume may have to be varied depending on
>the exact conditions prevailing, such as the intensity of the pest attack.
>

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