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Tomato Farming
I love food with tomatoes. This is true for plain tomato soup. It is even more true for a meat stew which has its flavour enhanced with tomatoes to add to the flavor.
I however began tomato farming through the investment opportunity presented by agro-companies that had an offer of green house tunnel farming. It is the one crop that they insisted that was a good match for growing the the green house. This was due to the fact that they started giving returns in about 4-5 months after sowing the seed.
I was hooked, I guess as many people who were too, by the promise of returns within 4 or so months and the constant supply of tomato fruits for about 6-7 months.
As this was the time i was thinking of leaving formal employment,e I visited the agro company's premises where they even had a demonstration section to show just how versatile this greenhouse farming could be. They had planted tomatoes, kales, bell peppers, kales, courgettes and other vegetables. The plants all had one thing in common, they looked positively healthy and very vivid in color and had a glorious sheen to them. Almost all the people who came to see agreed that the produce was among the best they had seen. Most had a gleam in their eyes as they prospected how they would rake in some cool hard cash once they had one greenhouse of their very own setup. I must admit I too looked like one of those cartoons who had just discovered the secret to wealth with dollar signs in their eyes.
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Sunflower Farming
I grew this crop as part of my fodder crop and also for crop rotation. My little research showed that a crop like sunflower was good to add to a crop rotation program as they have deep roots. This would help keep the soil structure and nutrients balanced especially when rotated with a shallow rooted crop like maize.
Sunflower in general is not a difficult crop to grow. Its spray program for me was mostly to control insects. I did see much, if any, in form of fungal diseases that affected it.
Most people round the farm couldn't understand why I would want to do sunflower farming, especially as a fodder crop. I has however researched and seen that it was a good energy source and required a shorter growing period as compared to maize, which is the most popular crop for fodder.
Sunflower has various varieties I tried a non hybrid one with low fat content as well as a hybrid, high fat content. The hybrid, high fat content one seemed to do better. I guess the better genetics through hybrid vigour.
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Sorghum Farming
I began thinking of sorghum as a viable fodder crop for my animals when I attended an agricultural show in the area. There was a sorghum variety I saw from one of the seed companies that looked quite impressive. It was as tall , if not taller, than the tallest maize crop at the show. It also had a lot of foliage which I figured was good especially for fodder for the cows.
Sorghum growing in the field
I immediately began planning on how to grow the sorghum on the farm. There were many varieties of sorghum, and as I came to find out later, they were not all equal. At the show I actually went to the stand by the company with the impressive variety of sorghum. When I enquired on whether I could purchase some sorghum seed, I was informed that they were all sold out. I couldn't believe it, it was just the second day of the show! I was told that the only way I could try and get seed was to contact the head office. Long story short, it was a long wait before I got the seed.
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Maize Farming
Maize has been grown on our farm since way back. It is not only a staple in our diet but more recently it is fodder for the cows. Maize is the main ingredient that makes our staple food called ugali. It is eaten with just about anything. I have a feeling most people would say you give them ugali or give them death.
Harvesting maize for silage production
Maize farming is pretty straightforward. The first step is land preparation. This begins with ploughing, then harrowing to make the soil finer, then lastly planting. In more recent years, I prefer to make furrows so as to have straight evenly placed lines of crop. This is better as opposed to planting purely by hand.
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