The pesticide-free village
Gerry Marten and Dona Glee Williams report on the Indian village of Punukula, so nearly destroyed by reliance on pesticides
Around 20 years ago, a handful of families migrated from the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, south-east India, into Punukula, a community of around 900 people farming plots of between two and ten acres. The outsiders from Guntur brought cotton culture with them, and this attracted resident farmers by promising to bring in more hard cash than the mixed crops they were already growing to eat and sell, such as millet, mung beans, chilli and rice. But growing cotton meant using pesticides and fertilisers – until then a mystery to the mostly illiterate farmers of the community.
Local agrochemical dealers obligingly filled the need for information and supplies. These ‘middlemen’ sold commercial seeds, fertilisers and insecticides on credit, and guaranteed purchase of the crop. They offered technical advice provided by the companies that supplied their products. The farmers depend on the dealers. If they wanted to grow cotton – and they did – it seemed they had no choice.
A quick ‘high’ of booming yields and incomes hooked growers during the early years of cotton in the region. Outlay on insecticides was fairly low because cotton pests hadn’t moved in yet. Many farmers were so impressed with the chemicals that they started using them on their other crops as well. The immediate payoffs from chemically-dependent cotton agriculture both ensured and obscured the fact that the black dirt fields had gone into a freefall of environmental degradation, dragged down by a chain of cause and effect.
Soon cotton-eaters, such as bollworms and aphids, plagued the fields. Repeated spraying killed off the most susceptible pests and left the strongest to reproduce and pass on their resistance to generations of ever-hardier offspring. As the bugs grew tougher and more abundant, farmers applied a greater variety and quantity of poisons, something mixing ‘cocktails’ of as many as ten insecticides. At the same time, cotton was gobbling up the nutrients in the soil, leaving the growers no option but to invest in chemical fertilisers.
By the time some farmers tried to break free of their chemical dependence, insecticides had already decimated the birds, wasps, beetles, and other predators that had once provided natural control of crop pests. Without their balancing presence, pests ran riot if insecticide was cut back. As outlays for fertilisers and insecticides escalated, the cost of producing cotton mounted. Eventually the expense of chemical inputs outgrew the cash value of the crop, and farmers fell further and further into debt and poverty.
Their vicious cycle was only broken by the willingness of a prominent village elder to experiment with something different. He 2 had been among the first villagers to grow cotton, and he would be the first to try it without chemicals, as set out by a programme in Non-Pesticide Management (NPM). This had been devised for Punukala with the help of a Non-Government Organisation called SECURE that had become aware of the hardships caused by the pesticide trap.
It involved turning to neem, a fast-growing, broad-leaved evergreen tree related to mahogany. Neem protects itself against insects by producing a multitude of natural pesticides that have evolved specifically to defeat plant-eating insects. Thus, they are generally harmless to human and other animals, including birds and insects that eat pests.
The plant is native to India and Burma, where it has been used for centuries to control pests and to promote health. To protect cotton, neem seeds are simply ground into a powder, soaked overnight in water, and sprayed onto the crop at least every 10 days. Neem cake applied to the soil kills insect pests and doubles as an organic fertiliser high in nitrogen. As neem grows locally and is easy to process, it is much less expensive than the chemical insecticides sold for profit by the dealers and their corporate suppliers. Quick, short-term gains had once pushed Punukula into chemical-dependent agriculture. Now they found that similar immediate rewards were helping to speed change in the other direction: the harvest of the next 20 NPM farmers was as good as the harvest of farmers using insecticides, and they came out ahead because they weren’t buying insecticides. Instead of investing cash (in short supply) in chemicals, they invested time and labour in NPM practices.
By the end of 2000, all the farmers in Punukula village were using NPM rather than chemicals for cotton, and they began to use it on other crops as well. The change gathered momentum as NPM became even more effective once everyone was using it. The status and economic opportunities of women improved – neem became a source of income for some of them, as they gathered seeds from the surrounding area to sell for NPM in other villages. The improve situation meant that families could afford to put more land under cultivation.
In 2004, the panchayat (village government) formally declared Punukula to be a pesticide-free village. And they have big plans for the future, such as water purification. The village now serves as a model for disseminating NPM to other communities, with around 2000 farmers visiting each year.
What began as a few farmers desperate to find a way to farm without poisons has become a movement with the potential to pull an entire region back from ecological disaster.
Questions 1-4
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. Cotton growing was expected to raise more money than other crops.
2. Some of the local agrochemical dealers had been farmers in the past.
3. Initially the farmers’ cotton yields were low.
4. At first, the farmers failed to notice the negative effects on their fields of pesticide use.
Questions 5-10
Complete the notes below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Non-Pesticide-Management Programme
• Developed with the aid of SECURE
• Based on the use of an (5) ………………
• Neem contains many (6) ………………… that target plant-eating predators
• Neem:
o Used as a pesticide
o (7) …………………. formed by grinding seeds
o Left (8) ………………… to soak in water
o Sprayed regularly
• Used as a pesticide and as a fertilizer
o Added in (9) ……………… form to soil
o Contains a lot of (10) ………………….
Questions 11-13
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
11. In which year did farmers finally stop using chemicals on cotton crops in Punukula?
12. What did the women of Punukula collect to make money?
13.What project do the authorities in Punukula hope to set up in the future?
New filter promises clean water for millions
An ingenious invention is set to bring clean water to developing countries, and while the science may be cutting edge, the materials are extremely down to earth.
A handful of clay, yesterday’s coffee grounds and some cow manure are the ingredients that could bring clean, safe drinking water to many developing countries. The simple new technology, developed by Australian National University (ANU) materials scientist and potter Tony Flynn, allows water filters to be made from commonly available materials are fired (or baked) using cow manure as the source of heat, without the need for a kiln (an oven for baking or drying pottery). The filters have been tested and shown to remove common pathogens (disease-producing organisms) including E-coli.
The invention was born out of a project involving the Manatuto community in East Timor. A charity operating there wanted to help set up a small industrial site manufacturing water filters, but initial research found the local clay to be too fine – a problem solved by the addition of organic material. While the problems of producing a working ceramic filter in East Timor were overcome, the solution was kiln-based and particular to that community’s materials and couldn’t be applied elsewhere. Flynn’s technique for manure firing, with no requirement for a kiln, has made this zero technology approach available anywhere it is needed.
Other commercial clay filters do exist, but, even if available, with prices starting at US$5 each, they are often outside the budgets of most people in the developing world. Unlike other water filtering devices, Flynn’s filters are inexpensive and simple to produce. Take a handful of clay, mix it with a handful of organic material such as used tea leaves, coffee grounds or rice hulls, add water in a sufficient quantity to make a stiff mixture and form a cylindrical pot that has one end closed, then dry it in the sun. According to Flynn, used coffee grounds have given the best results to date. The walls of the filter can be measure using the width of an adult finger as the standard. Next, surround the pots with straw, put them in a mound of cow manure, light the straw and then top up the burning manure as required. The filters are finished in 45 to 60 minutes.
The properties of cow manure are vital, as the fuel can reach a temperature of 700 degrees in half an hour, and will be up to 950 degrees after another 20 to 30 minutes. The manure makes a good fuel because it is very high in organic material that burns readily and quickly. The manure has to be dry and is best used exactly as found in the field; there is no need to break it up or process it any further. In contrast, a potter’s kiln is an expensive item and can take up to four or five hours to get up to 800 degrees. It needs expensive scarce fuel, such as gas or wood to heat it, and experience to use it. With no technology, no insulation and nothing other than a pile of cow manure and a match, none of these requirements apply.
It is also helpful that, like clay and organic material, cow manure is freely available across the developing world. A cow is a natural fuel factory. Manure is a mixture of vegetable materials of different sizes, and cow manure as a fuel is the same wherever it is found.
Just as using manure as a fuel for domestic use is not a new idea, the fact that liquid can pass through clay objects is something that potters have always known, and clay’s porous nature is something that, as a former ceramics lecturer in the ANU School of Art, Flynn is well aware of. The difference is that, rather than viewing the porous nature of the material as a problem – after all, not many people want a pot that won’t hold water – his filters capitalize on this property.
The filtration process is simple, but effective. The basic principle is that there are passages through the filter that are wide enough for water droplets to pass through, but too narrow for pathogens. Tests with the deadly E-coli bacterium have seen the filters remove 96.4 to 99.8 per cent of the pathogen – well within safe levels. The thickness of the clay container needs to be the same thickness as an adult finger for the process to be effective. If this is the case, using only one filter, a liter of water can be obtained in two hours.
The use of organic material, which burns away leaving cavities after firing, helps produce the structure in which pathogens will become trapped. It overcomes the potential problems of finer clays that may not let water through and also means that cracks are soon halted. And like clay and cow manure, organic material is universally available in the developing communities that need most assistance, as tea, coffee and rice are grown in these areas.
With all the components being widely available, Flynn says there is no reason the technology couldn’t be applied throughout the developing world. He has no plans to exploit his idea financially by registering ownership through a patent. If he did, any commercial copying would legally entitle him to a share in any profits made. Without a patent, there will be no illegality in it being adopted in any community that needs it. ‘Everyone has a right to clean water, and these filters have the potential to enable anyone in the world to drink water safely,’ says Flynn.
Questions 14-19
Complete the flow-chart below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS/AND OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Choose your answers in boxes 14-19 below.
• Step-by-step guide to making Flynn’s water filters
• Make the mixture for the filter from organic material (e.g. tea, coffee, rice), (14) ………………… and (15) …………………
• Shape into pots and place them in a fire made from (16) ………………… and (17) ………………………
• Fuel the fire to reach a maximum heat of (18) …………………
• Remove the filters from the fire.
• Bake the filters in the fire for a maximum period of (19) …………………
Questions 20-23
Do the following statements agree with the information given in reading passage? In boxes 20-23 below, choose
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
20. The clay in the Manatuto project was initially unsuitable for the project’s purpose.
21. Coffee grounds produce filters that are twice as efficient as those using other organic materials.
22. It takes half an hour for a cow-manure fire to reach 950 degree.
23. E-coli is the most difficult bacterium to remove from water by filtration.
Questions 24 – 26
Choose the correct option.
Flynn does not intend to patent his filter because he
A charitable trust.
B filtration experiment.
C water filter factory.
D community kiln.
25. Technology developed by Australian National University is beneficial because
A remove common pathogens.
B be a particular thickness.
C filter water as quickly as possible.
D be made from 100 per cent clay.
26. Commercial filters cannot penetrate developing countries because
A wants it be freely available.
B has produced a very simple design.
C cannot make a profit in poor countries.
D has already given the idea to a charity.
When People Are ‘Deaf’ to Music
Music has long been considered a uniquely human concept. In fact, most psychologists agree that music is a universal human instinct. Like any ability, however, there is great variation in people’s musical competence. For every brilliant pianist in the world, there are several people we refer to as ‘tone deaf’. It is not simply that people with tone deafness (or ‘amusia’) are unable to sing in tune; they are also unable to discriminate between tones or recognize familiar melodies. Such a ‘disorder’ can occur after some sort of brain damage, but recently research has been undertaken in an attempt to discover the cause of congenital amusia (when people are born with the condition), which is not associated with any brain damage, hearing problems, or lack of exposure to music.
According to the research of Dr. Isabelle Peretz of the University of Montreal, amusia is more complicated than the inability to distinguish pitches. An amusic (a person who has the condition of amusia) can distinguish between two pitches that are far apart but cannot tell the difference between intervals smaller than a half step on the Western diatonic scale, while most people can easily distinguish differences smaller than that. When listening to melodies that have had a single note altered so that it is out of key with the rest of the melody, amusics do not notice a problem. As would be expected, amusics perform significantly worse at singing and tapping a rhythm along with a melody than do non-amusics.
The most fascinating aspect of amusia is how specific to music it is. Because of music’s close ties to language, it might be expected that a musical impairment may be caused by a language impairment. Studies suggest, however, that language and music ability are independent of one another. People with brain damage in areas critical to language are often still able to sing, despite being unable to communicate through speech. Moreover, while amusics show deficiencies in their recognition of pitch differences in melodies, they show no deficiencies in tonal languages, such as Chinese, and do not report having any difficulty discriminating between words that differ only in their intonation. The linguistic cues inherent in speech make discrimination of meaning much easier for amusics. Amusics are also successful most of the time at detecting the mood of a melody, can identify a speaker based on his or her voice, and can discriminate and identify environmental sounds.
Recent work has been focused on locating the part of the brain that is responsible for amusia. The temporal lobes of the brain, the location of the primary auditory cortex, have been considered. It has long been believed that the temporal lobes, especially the right temporal lobe, are most active when processing musical activity, so any musical disability should logically stem from here as well. Because it has been shown that there is no hearing deficit in amusia, researchers moved on to the temporal neocortex, which is where more sophisticated processing of musical cues was thought to take place. New studies, however, have suggested that the deficits in amusics are located outside the auditory cortex. Brain scans of amusics do not show any reaction at all to differences smaller than a half step. When changes in tones are large, their brains overreact, showing twice as much activity on the right side of the brain as a normal brain hearing the same thing. These differences do not occur in the auditory cortex, indicating again that the deficits of amusia do not lie in hearing impairment, but in higher processing of melodies.
So, what does this all mean? Looking only at the research of Peretz in the field of the neuropsychology of music, it would appear that amusia is some sort of disorder. As a student of neurobiology, however, I am skeptical. Certainly, the studies by Peretz that have found significant differences between the brains of so-called amusics and normal brains are legitimate. The more important question now becomes one of normality. Every trait-from skin color to intelligence to mood-exists on a continuum; there is a great deal of variation from one extreme to the other. Just because we recognize that basic musical ability is something that the vast majority of people have, it doesn’t mean that the lack of it is abnormal.
What makes an amusic worse off than a musical prodigy? Musical ability is culturally valued and may have been a factor in survival at one point in human history, but it does not seem likely that it is being selected for on an evolutionary scale any longer. Darwin believed that music was adaptive as a way of finding a mate, but who needs to be able to sing to find a partner in an age when it is possible to express your emotions through a song on your iPod?
While the idea of amusia is interesting, it seems to be just one end of the continuum of innate musical ability. Comparing this ‘disorder’ to learning disorders like specific language impairment seems to be going too far. Before amusia can be declared a disability, further research must be done to determine whether a lack of musical ability is actually detrimental in any way. If no disadvantages can be found in having amusia, then it is no more a disability than having poor fashion sense or bad handwriting.
Questions 27-31
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
27. What does the writer tell US about people with tone deafness (amusia) in the first paragraph?
A They usually have hearing problems
B Some can play a musical instrument very well
C Some may be able to sing well-known melodies
D They have several inabilities in regard to music
28. What is the writer doing in the second paragraph?
A outlining some of factors that cause amusia
B summarising some findings about people with amusia
C suggesting that people with amusia are disadvantaged
D comparing the sing ability of amusia with their sense
29. What does the writer say about the relationship between language ability and musical ability?
A People who are unable to speak can sometimes sing
B People with amusia usually have language problems too
C Speakers of tonal languages like Chinese rarely have amusia
D People with amusia have difficulty recognizing people by their voices
30. In the third paragraph, the writer notes that most amusics are able to
A learn how to sing in tune
B identify a song by its tune
C distinguish a sad tone from a happy tune
D recognise when a singer is not sing in tune
31. What is the writer doing in the fourth paragraph?
A claiming that amusics have problems in the auditory cortex
B outlining progress in understanding the brains of amusics
C proving that amuisa is located in the temporal lobes
D explaining why studies of hearing are difficult
Questions 32 – 35
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in reading passage? In boxes 32-35 below, choose
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
32. Perezt’s research suggesting that amusia is a disorder is convincing.
33. People with musical ability are happier than those without this ability.
34. It is inappropriate to consider amusia as real disorder.
35. People with amusia often have bad handwriting.
Questions 36-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H below. Choose the correct letter, A-H in boxes 36-40 below.
A an inability to hear when spoken language rises and falls.
B considered to be desirable.
C an inability to follow the beat of music.
D not a problem.
E not yet well understood.
F a result of injury to the mother.
G more marked that with other people.
H associated with intelligence.
36. The reason why some people are born with amusia is
37. One of the difficulties amusia experience is
38. For amusia, discrimination of meaning in speech is
39. Certain reactions in the brain of an amusia are
40. In most cultures, musical ability is