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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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Greenhouse farming
At the time I was beginning my farming journey, I only had one heifer and as I needed money more immediately for upkeep as I had already quit my full time job. At the time there was one agro company that was promoting heavily its greenhouse farming as a business idea.
I, along with several other farmers and would be new farmers bought into this idea.
The dream they sold was that you could buy one kit inclusive of the greenhouse tunnel, drip lines, water tank and sees and agro inputs for a whole season. They also threw in some training for a whole day so as the very green fellows, could have an idea of best agronomy practices. The training was also to guarantee you that once you follow all that was taught, you were guaranteed an income. Said income would enable you to not only earn some profit but also completely of the greenhouse tunnel kit within a year.
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Coriander farming
I tried coriander farming after talking to local farmers. I was told the herb was usually in high demand and price for the produce was great. The last clincher was that the buyer would be the one to come and harvest and pack the coriander for transportation and market.
Harvested coriander
The first crop I planted was just a few rows in the greenhouse tunnel. Since I had never planted it before, when it was ready I put feelers out for the best way to sell the produce. A farmer in the area who was famed for his coriander farming, came by to inspect what I had. He advised me that what I had was a joke. He told me that for good returns , I needed to plant at least a quarter acre. In his view the bigger the area the better.
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Broccoli farming
I began broccoli farming as of my crop rotation program including tomato toes, leeks, peas and beans.
I initially grew them in the greenhouse tunnel, but later also grew them as an outside crop.
The growing of broccoli is fairly easy as compared to tomato framing. This is more so once they have been transplanted. In the nursery stage is where they can be a bit fussy with fungal infections like damping off and being eaten by caterpillars and other insects.
Once sowed the plants usually germinate in about 3 days. I then usually water the seed bed daily in the morning or late afternoon. It helps if the seedbed is mulched as this allows for water retention and use by the plants. If planted in soil-less media like coco peat, the performance is usually better In terms of more uniformity in germination.
From germination to transplanting broccoli can take about 3 weeks. During this time other than watering, and insecticide and fungicide should be incorporated into the tending program. This is to ward off cut worms and fungal diseases of which the most devastating is damping off.
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