Integrated farming - would it work in Papua New Guinea?

Abstract

The use of animal faeces for the production of methane gas, algae, fish, fertilizer and irrigation water is practised in several countries of the world. The system works on the principle that waste matter is collected in a tank (the digester) and is broken down by bacteria to simpler substances. At the same time a gas, methane, is given off, which can be used for heating or lighting. The ”simpler substances” are used as food for algae (green water weed'). The algae then provide food for fish, ducks or pigs. These in turn become food for man.
Considerable attention is being given to the possibility of such a system of management being introduced into villages all over Papua New Guinea. A model unit has been established at Port Moresby and a much larger unit is under construction at Bomana Corrective Institution. The main purpose of these models is for the production of methane gas from animal waste matter, but the system has considerable agricultural implications.