# BOKASHI FAQ
Where did the word bokashi come from?
Japan. The word is Japanese (ぼかし, "shading/gradation" — referring to the gradual fermentation process).
Where did the practice of bokashi come from?
The technique was systematized by Dr. Teruo Higa at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa in the 1980s, packaged together with his effective microorganisms (EM) inoculant work.\
\
Bokashi got adopted hard across Latin America in the 90s and 2000s. EMBRAPA, INTA Costa Rica, and Colombian smallholder agriculture all picked it up and adapted it to local inputs: cane molasses, rice hulls, chicken manure, biochar, native forest microbes instead of imported EM.
By now, the *Latin American version* is a genuinely distinct regional practice — different recipes, different substrates, often anaerobic-then-aerobic instead of strictly anaerobic.
---
# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.
Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:
```
GET https://sexytrees.savimbo.com/practice-guide/fpic/bokashi-faq.md?ask=
```
The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.
Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.