很多发展中国家具有利用经选择的豆科植物根瘤菌菌株生产氮这种最重要的植物养分的能力。但在大多数情况下,这类好处一直由种植大豆等经济作物的较大农场获得。本应从这项技术获得最大好处的维持生计的种植者,却大都错过了机会。但现在津巴布韦多达50万的小农户将通过在1997年开始实施的机构技术合作示范项目掌握这项技术。根瘤菌“家族”的细菌,一直被称为是自然界给可持续农业的礼物。它们在豆科植物根部形成瘤,并借助称为“固氮作用”的过程,把 Many developing countries have the ability to utilize selected strains of leguminous Rhizobium to produce nitrogen, the most important plant nutrient. In most cases, however, such benefits have been obtained from larger farms that grow cash crops such as soybeans. Most of the livelihood growers who deserve the greatest benefit from this technology have largely missed the opportunity. However, as many as 500,000 small farmers in Zimbabwe will now have access to the technology through the institutional technical cooperation demonstration project that started in 1997. Rhizobium “family” bacteria, has long been described as a gift of nature to sustainable agriculture. They form neoplasms at the root of legumes and, with the help of a process called “nitrogen fixation”