A bumper harvest starts with a proper and timely land preparation. But I wonder how many farmers know this. I’ve taken time to observe what most farmers, especially in the Western part of Kenya do, and to tell you the truth it’s heartbreaking.
In Busia County for instance when our rains begun this April signaling the start of crop planting, it was now when most farmers were bent in their farms digging, as some desperately looked for tractors. These people have had almost three months with barely no rainfall in which to prepare their fields but they didn’t, only waiting last minute for desperate land preparation. You dig your field today and plant the next day, honestly how do you expect to have a good crop?
You ask why and the excuse is lack of funds, time, tractors, and a myriad of other reasons. And one thing I know for sure, that crop won’t produce to its best. And how would you expect it to when you put it in such an environment?
Land preparation is one of the most important stage in a crop cycle, and yet most underrated. You prepare your land well and you can even end up planting one type of crop for years like the American corn farmers with no need of crop rotation. You prepare your land well and you end up saving money on weeding because you won’t be needing any. You prepare your land well, when the sun is still burning furiously and save up on pesticides because you destroyed half the pests and diseases. And timely cultivation means timely planting, which is crucial if you don’t have irrigation in place because the rains might stop before your crop is ready. These are just but a few advantages of proper and timely land preparation.
By timely I mean doing it at the right time and this begins just after the end of the previous harvest and before the beginning of the rains for the next planting. During this period, especially for rain-fed farming it’s usually dry with no or very little rains, hence the best time to get your hoe, tractor, or whatever tool you use, even if it’s the cow-pulled one and start your cultivation. Do the primary cultivation early enough and the secondary a few weeks to the first rains.
By Proper I mean the process of getting your farm ready for planting. There’s the primary and secondary cultivation. In primary you’re breaking the ground and then later on repeat in secondary cultivation where you are breaking those hard clumps and loosening the soil. The primary cultivation ensures that any weed that had survived the first cultivation is completely destroyed and that any pest cycle is destroyed. The loose soils makes it easier to plant your seeds and for them to germinate easily.
Dear farmers, to avoid the last minute rush where you end up desperately queuing for tractors like what I’ve witnessed, only to end up with a poor harvest because the farm wasn’t well prepared when you planted, have a plan. When you sell the produce from your last harvest, put some money aside for land preparation to avoid delay caused by lack of funds. Kindly don’t wait until it’s raining heavily like it’s doing now to start preparing your land. I sincerely hope this post will help our local farmers to have good harvests.