FarmersJoint Blog

How to Spend Less Time and Money on Weeding

If you have ever tried farming on a plot of land (120x60ft) or more, you’ll agree with me that weeding with hoes is no easy task. It is back- and waist-breaking! If you decide to employ laborers to help you out, they’ll charge you about N7000 per plot (depending on your location). This shows how important it is for you to find ways of cutting weeding cost. And that’s exactly what you’re about to learn.

So how do we go about this? The method we’re going to look at is called the stale seedbed method. Here is how it works. Make your seedbed, ridges or hills (I like working with ridges because it makes operations like fertilizer application or spraying insecticides and fungicides easier). After making your ridges, don’t sow your seeds or transplant yet. Allow about 2 weeks to pass to allow the first flush of weeds to grow.
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How to Grow Hot Pepper and Make Money

Pepper belongs to the Solanacea family. Other members of this family includes tomato, tobacco, eggplant and Irish potato. There are different varieties of pepper available to choose from. You just have to go to the pepper sellers in your area and find out the variety that sales well. Then visit a state ministry of Agric. and find out where you can buy the seeds. Some people who sell agro-chemicals in markets may also sell seeds.

Is there money to be made in pepper farming? Yes. Pepper mature in 3-4 months and with proper maintenance, you can harvest it continually for 6 months or more. You’ll make much more money if you have access to irrigation facilities so you can irrigate your plants during the dry season. This can either be in the form of borehole or stream/river. In most places in Nigeria, you can easily rent farmlands that are close
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Insecticide Resistance: How to Use Insecticides Correctly

Insecticides are used by crop farmers to control insect pests that attack crops. It is a well-known fact that world-wide, some insecticides are losing their effectiveness due to insecticide resistance – i.e. some insecticides no longer kill insects they’re meant to kill. US farmers lost 7% of their crops to pests in the 1940s. Over the 1980s and 1990s, the loss was 13% even though more pesticides (including insecticides) were being used. There are several factors that can cause this but we won’t be considering them here. Rather, we’ll learn how to control pests in such a way that prevents/minimizes insecticide resistance from occurring.

Why is Insecticide Resistance so Bad?

The word tuta absoluta will continue to strike terror into the hearts of tomato farmers. It is a moth – a flying insect that can cause 100% yield loss in tomato farms. Farmers tried to kill these little insects with
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Biosecurity: How to Protect Your Poultry Farm from Pests and Diseases

Biosecurity has to do with measures you take to prevent entry of pests and diseases into your farm. A lot of farmers ignore these measures – including me! But from my bad experiences in the past, I no longer take biosecurity for granted. Observing these measures will help minimize disease incidence in your farm. Teach your workers also (very important). Don’t have the mentality that animals are animals and so anything goes. Ignoring the following biosecurity measures can be catastrophic – even if you spend tons of antibiotics on them.

1. Ventilation: Lack of free air movement can cause ammonia gas from droppings to accumulate. It also lead to wet bedding and a host of other problems. All these will eventually lead to pest and disease infestation. So, locate your farm in a well-ventilated area. It should not be box-in by several tall buildings.

2. Closeness to Other Farms:
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How to Control Weeds and Conserve Water at the Same Time

Setting up plastic mulch with drip irrigation. Drip tapes not shown

Weeding is costly. Irrigation is also costly. If you have a large farm you’ll appreciate what I mean. Because of the labor intensive nature of weeding, laborers charge high prices for weeding. Money spent on fuel for irrigation is also costly. But thank God for mulching. It helps you to control weeds and conserve water at the same time.

Weeds compete with crops for nutrients and thus hampers growth. They also attract pests and diseases to the farm. One secret to having a bumper harvest is proper weed control – especially when the crops are young.

Fig 1: Cucumbers growing in plastic mulch. Image source: phollar Nairaland

A mulch is a layer of material covering the soil surface. It blocks sunlight from reaching weed seeds and thus prevent them from germinating. Because of the covering, most of the soil moisture will remain trapped in the soil.
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Revealed: How to Increase Your Plant Yield By 30%

My Young Moringa Tree

The tip I’m about to share with you will help you increase your plant yield by 25-30%. And it works with almost any crop. Thanks to Moringa tree. The leaves of this tree is rich in vitamins, minerals, ascorbates, phenolics, antioxidants along with macro- micro nutrients and amino acids. They contain all the essential amino acids in a good proportion. All these combine to make this tree wonderful. But all these are not the only things that makes Moringa important as a plant growth promoter. The growth promoting effect also comes from the growth hormone (zeatin) that can be found in the young leaves and shoot.

Why Use Moringa Leaf Extract?

Moringa leaf extract accelerate growth of crops, improve resistance to pests, diseases and stress conditions and increase yield by 20 to 35%. Soak your seeds in this extract and their germination
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Types of Poultry Feed

Just like humans, birds require different types of feed at different stages of growth. Below are the types of feed given to broilers and layers.

Feed for Broilers

Broiler Starter: This is high in protein and energy and is given from day old until 4-6 weeks old.

Broiler Finisher: This has a lower protein and energy content than starter. It is given from about 4-6 weeks until target weight is attained.

Feed for Laying Birds

Starter: Layers can be given broiler starter in their chick stage. This is given for the first 8 weeks. They can also be given chick mash.

Grower Feed: Given from 8 to 20 weeks or when 5-10% of the birds start laying.

Layers Feed: It is introduced when 5-10% of the birds start laying and it is given until the birds are sold.

Feed for Cockerels

Broiler/Chick Starter: Given for the first 6 weeks.

Low
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Raising Broilers, Layers and Cockerels in Nigeria

Broiler Production:

Broilers are meat birds that have been genetically conditioned to grow very fast. They attain market weight (over 2kg) in 6-10 weeks depending on management. They can get sick easily if you don’t manage them well. Broiler chicks goes for N200-N280/chick.

Space Requirement: Stock at 20-25 chicks/m2. 8 weeks old broilers requires 900cm2 or 0.09m2 per bird. See: House Size For Chicken for details.

Feed Requirement for broilers: A broiler requires about 8kg of feed within the first 8 weeks. It consumes about 2kg in the first 4 weeks and about 6kg from 5 to 8 weeks. They’re given starter feed for the first 4-5 weeks and broiler finisher feed until they attain the desired market weight (at 6-9 weeks of age depending on market demand). See broiler feed and body weight chart below.

Broiler feed and body weight chart

Keeping broilers beyond 9
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Raising Chicks: Things You Must Do During the First Week

Chicks need warmth and to satisfy this they are raised in brooders. The chick stage is one of the most critical stages in the life of chickens. If there is loss of performance during the first week, it can hardly be compensated for later in life. Under good management, chicks can increase their body weight by fourfold or more in the first week. To achieve this in the first week, below are some management tips that will help.

#1. Avoid Caked or Wet Litter:

One of the most important functions of litter is to absorb moisture. Chicks retain only about 20% of the water that they consume and the remainder is excreted onto the floor. If litter becomes excessively wet, it will cake up. Caked or wet litter result in high ammonia production but when coupled with the high temperature required for brooding, much more ammonia will be produced.
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