THE JOURNEY SO FAR
So far so good, we have come this far! Four months of farming as a business has been quite a good time, practising Agriculture, the divinely ordained occupation. One of the wonders of nature is the mechanism that converts soil nutrients to food stuff man uses.So far 179 students have benefited from the project by getting involved in either pre-planting, planting and post-planting operations, that is from sowing to reaping of certain crops like maize. Pre-planting operations include site selection, clearing, burning if necessary, stumping/packing, plotting, tilling, and ridging. Though application of manure comes under post-planting operations in most crops, in Garden Egg and Pepper, manure application is done first before planting. This is a peculiar situation. Planting operations refer to all operations related to actual planting of crops. These include planting distance/spacing, seed rate, sowing depth, supplying, thinning, nursery practice, planting date and planting methods. On the other hand, Post-planting operations are weeding, application of manures, watering, mulching, pruning/trimming, staking, and harvesting and farm level processing. Whether early or late planting the same operations have to be carried out.
Sexual and asexual propagation are use. Maize, Fluted Pumpkin, Garden Egg and Pepper are propagated sexually while cassava is propagated by cutting method of asexual propagation.
Harvesting of early maize has just been concluded. The sizes of maize produced ranged from big cobs to medium and small. There was high demand for the big cobs. Of course, while the big sold at the rate of 9 cobs for one hundred naira, the medium and small sizes were sold at the rate of 10 and 11 cobs respectively for the same amount. Our problem and prospect in this regard is how to produce the big size cobs which sell faster than the others. We are going to acquire improved variety of maize from a neigbouring State. An organisation known as Idea Builders which works in conjunction with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been contacted for that purpose and we intend to use the improved variety to plant in subsequent seasons.
Harvesting of early maize has just been concluded. The sizes of maize produced ranged from big cobs to medium and small. There was high demand for the big cobs. Of course, while the big sold at the rate of 9 cobs for one hundred naira, the medium and small sizes were sold at the rate of 10 and 11 cobs respectively for the same amount. Our problem and prospect in this regard is how to produce the big size cobs which sell faster than the others. We are going to acquire improved variety of maize from a neigbouring State. An organisation known as Idea Builders which works in conjunction with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been contacted for that purpose and we intend to use the improved variety to plant in subsequent seasons.
Saturday’s market was better to sell the produce than other days. We targeted three markets, one urban market, one rural market and on-the-farm site market. Highest demand and best sales were recorded in the urban market located 9 Kilos from the farm.
Unlike when we first started, we now have customers to buy Poultry droppings from for our 
use. We have some bags of it now in stock to start the second planting with and have booked for more against next year, since it is always very scarce and costly due to high demand during early planting seasons when every body is planting. It sells at two hundred and fifty naira (N250.00) for one bag of 25Kg poultry feed. This is more economical than one thousand two hundred naira (N1200.00) for one bag of natural fertilizer being produced by a local industry and much more economical than three thousand five hundred naira (N3500.00) for one bag of 50Kg inorganic NPK fertilizers. The advantage of this over the chemically formulated fertilizers is that it builds the soil structure and has a long lasting effect on the soil. If a good quality of poultry droppings is applied it can support Continuous Cropping for two consecutive years and it is all purpose. The project will hopefully expand in future to include Poultry Farming aimed at producing the best droppings for use. So far it has proved to be the best for restoring and increasing soil fertility. Experiment has shown that soil that hitherto was not fertile enough for cropping is reclaimed for cropping by just applying the poultry droppings. The Natural Fertilizer also has an advantage over the chemical fertilizer in that Soil Acidity Neutralizer is added to it by the manufacturers. Due to lack of adequate equipment the fertilizer is not produced in large quantities. Two other technologies asserted to work well in soil reclamation are known but yet to be implemented in this project. These involve using local organic wastes and a certain grass as mulch. I am experimenting on two others whose observations and results I will share with you at the end of the tests. Of course, Agriculture is a science because it is based on observation and experiment.
use. We have some bags of it now in stock to start the second planting with and have booked for more against next year, since it is always very scarce and costly due to high demand during early planting seasons when every body is planting. It sells at two hundred and fifty naira (N250.00) for one bag of 25Kg poultry feed. This is more economical than one thousand two hundred naira (N1200.00) for one bag of natural fertilizer being produced by a local industry and much more economical than three thousand five hundred naira (N3500.00) for one bag of 50Kg inorganic NPK fertilizers. The advantage of this over the chemically formulated fertilizers is that it builds the soil structure and has a long lasting effect on the soil. If a good quality of poultry droppings is applied it can support Continuous Cropping for two consecutive years and it is all purpose. The project will hopefully expand in future to include Poultry Farming aimed at producing the best droppings for use. So far it has proved to be the best for restoring and increasing soil fertility. Experiment has shown that soil that hitherto was not fertile enough for cropping is reclaimed for cropping by just applying the poultry droppings. The Natural Fertilizer also has an advantage over the chemical fertilizer in that Soil Acidity Neutralizer is added to it by the manufacturers. Due to lack of adequate equipment the fertilizer is not produced in large quantities. Two other technologies asserted to work well in soil reclamation are known but yet to be implemented in this project. These involve using local organic wastes and a certain grass as mulch. I am experimenting on two others whose observations and results I will share with you at the end of the tests. Of course, Agriculture is a science because it is based on observation and experiment.Second planting season begins this July with selection of sites, clearing and tilling though some of our Akwamfon Partnership for Entrepreneurship Scheme (APES) farmers have already planted maize this month. We have concluded arrangement to embark on maize production during the season, using poultry droppings in a bid to prepare the same soil for early mixed cropping of maize and cassava come next year. Planting of Pineapple is equally planned for though suckers are very scarce. But Idea Builders is ready to train us on how to multiply the suckers for planting. This implies that we start with what is available to multiply to the required number. For us, this is a welcome development. We can multiply enough for sale to other farmers.
Students long vacation begins first week of August and will last for at least 6 weeks. This coincides with the second planting season. There is going to be effective involvement of students in the project in the second planting and compost making apart from the usual Extramural Classes our Ikpe Udok Rural Education project offers. It promises to be quite a busy vacation.
