Potato planting is finally done and were trying to cultivate the potatoes. There was a delay as the equipment storage down south first sent the wrong cultivator and then it rain every day. We’ve had over 11 inches of rain in April so far and Its still raining. There are a lot of dry places in Africa, but Central Africa where I am is the wet part. At least the soils a well drained loams with 6 % organic matter so We can work the ground the next day after a rain except for the really heavy ones. The weed pressure is fierce in patches where there is yellow nutsedge. For those who don’t have this bad weed, be thankful. Its hard to cultivate and few herbicides work on it. There are only the old pesticides available here in any case. I could only get my hands on some prowl for potatoes. Sprayed a quart of round-up on the sedge before the potatoes emerged and it didn’t do much. The cultivator we put together does a pretty good job and then we have to do some hand clean-up afterwards.
So far the Red potatoes are doing the best. All emerging fast and doing well. The yellows and whites have had a lot of problems with seed piece decay and rhizoctonia attacking the stems. A few its too early to tell, but that was the purpose for soo many varieties this first year to evaluate the best for Congo conditions.
When first working the ground they broke up the big termite hills, the termites are not giving up. They keep trying to rebuild their homes. The picture below shows one about to be taken down again by the cultivator. The green sedge you see is only two weeks worth of growth.
Yesterday we had some excitement as the cultivator came across a hive of African bees nesting on a termite hill in the potato field. First I though, their just bees, leave them alone, and then it hit me, these aren’t the same bees as home. They nest on the go and are very aggressive. We’ll have a little gap in the cultivation.
We got a acre of onions and carrots planted by hand last week as well. There is a pneumatic planter somewhere in the country for beans and vegetables, but I haven’t seen it yet. The congo Government part of this program is to promote mechanized agriculture so they bought a bunch of equipment and I’m putting it to use on the farm. When the farm gets successful the idea is to expand on the villagers land with the trained tractor drivers. First we have to get the varieties and farming system worked out and I’ll put together a little how to booklet on each crop. We can also be a source of improved seed as well. At least that’s the plan.
Speaking of farming, I spoke to the minster of Ag here and they will give land to anyone willing to develop it and grow crops. They also offer a 5 year exemption on import duties to bring in equipment and supplies and a 5 year exemption on taxes. There is lots of good flat Ag land here up north with plenty of natural rainfall. Or we could use some experienced tractorists/mechanics to work on the project farms. Anyone feeling adventurist??
I’ll finish with this pic of some animal friends I took in the nearby village.
No comments:
Post a Comment