Ramon Encinares is a Filipino who lives in Samphran, Nakhon Pathom province, in a house surrounded by pig farms.
Ineffective: Not even a green wall with fragrant flowers can fend off the foul smell emanating from pig farms.
“Every day the smell that comes out from our neighbours has become part of the air we breathe. Could you recommend some trees or plants that we could grow to fend off the foul smell?” he wrote.
Only readers who have been to a piggery would understand Mr Encinares’ predicament; I could find no words to describe how bad the smell is. Unable to find a solution to his problem, he has thought of plants as a last resort.
Plants purify the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, this we have all learned in school. A Nasa study in the 1990s also found that plants could absorb three chemical pollutants known to be present in spacecraft.
The three pollutants — benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene — are also present in homes and offices through emission from furnishings, office equipment and some building materials. Using one potted plant for every 10m² of space, the Nasa study found that certain house plants remove as much as 87% of the above-mentioned indoor air pollutants within 24 hours.
Unfortunately, no matter how we surround ourselves with trees and shrubs, even if they have fragrant flowers, there’s nothing much they can do to fend off the foul smell emanating from pig farms. Actually it is the farm owners’ civic duty to ensure that they do not earn their living at the expense of their neighbours. If they lack this sense of responsibility, it is the government’s duty to impose regulations that make it illegal to raise pigs in a residential community, although I guess many of the piggeries were there before the people’s houses.
Also, it should be made mandatory that piggery owners eliminate the smell emanating from their farms and treat waste water before releasing this into the drainage system. You may ask how smell can be eliminated. By spraying the piggery with EM (effective micro-organisms) diluted in water, the pig pens are sanitised, the smell is removed and the waste water is treated in what can only be described as killing three birds with one stone.
I have few regrets in life, and one of these was not being able to talk with Teruo Higa, professor of microbiology at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, about his work on the two occasions that I met him in Bangkok in the 1980s. At the time he was advancing his discovery that a number of different micro-organisms working together could improve the natural equilibrium and convert harmful bacteria into useful bacteria. His EM technology was tested in Thailand to purify polluted water as well as to improve soil structure and, with Thailand as the launch pad, the technology was introduced to the world in 1989.
Today countries in all continents are using EM not just in treating polluted water and improving soil fertility but in a variety of uses in the livestock, fishery and health industries as well as in waste management. During floods, for example, epidemics are avoided by treating stagnant floodwaters with EM to kill pathogens and waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. EM can be used to unblock clogged drainage, turn kitchen waste into compost, and to improve the soil for better plant growth and higher crop production.
EM is available in liquid and powder form at gardening and agricultural supply stores. As it is not a pesticide, it has no negative effect on human health and the environment. What’s wonderful about it, apart from its diversity, is that it is very simple and economical to make and even you and I can produce it. Puthipong Ruangsuwan, a former university lecturer turned orchard grower in Surin province, ensures that he has a steady supply of EM by following what he calls the three-one-five formula.
He mixes 1kg of molasses or brown sugar and five litres of water for every 3kg of fruit peel and vegetable scraps, and stores the mixture in a clean plastic drum which remains open for 10 days so that it can capture naturally-occurring beneficial micro-organisms. After 10 days he puts the lid on the drum, and waits another 10 days before he opens it and stirs its contents, making sure that any floating material is submerged. He puts the lid back on and allows the mixture to ferment for three months, opening it once in a while to ensure the fermenting material remains submerged and that the water has not evaporated. If it does, he adds water and stirs it in with a corresponding amount of brown sugar.
After three months, the substance is ready to use by diluting one part EM with 10 parts water. Mr Puthipong uses the solution to spray the leaves of his plants as well as to water them. Since using EM to improve the yield of his mango, durian and other fruit trees, he has drastically reduced his expenses on chemical fertiliser.
He also found that his compost pile decomposes faster if sprayed with EM, and there are more earthworms in the soil. A former lecturer in animal husbandry, he is certain that EM will make pig farms more neighbour-friendly. Hopefully, piggery owners in Nakhon Pathom will take heed and use it to solve Mr Encinares’ problem. n
Email nthongtham@gmail.com.
