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Monday, November 11, 2024

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My Home Farm

Enterprise Issues

With Siaka Momoh

Farming is a familiar terrain for me. Why not?  I come from a farming family. With due respect, I am not one of those ‘pepper-less’ guys from Lagos who believe yam grows like mangoes on trees.

Permit me to tell you a story, a very true story.  At Federal School of Arts and Science Ondo, we had some students from Lagos who had never travelled out of Lagos all their life, who had never been to a farm before, who had never handled hoes and cutlasses, who knew nothing  about farming, watched  with amazement, how the likes of me, handled the hoe and cutlass with dexterity. They asked us rural folks if yam grew like fruits.

I am son of a farmer, a cocoa farmer, who also farmed food crops – arable crops. A very successful farmer who was head of a large polygamous family. He is late now – he died over 50 years ago. Why did people of his era marry many wives? I am told they needed large families that would be useful as labour hands in their farms. Makes sense, isn’t it?

So during holidays, my father’s dozens children. move to the farm to till the ground, or harvest crops, or be involved in any other related jobs. Tell me why wouldn’t a product of such an environment be skilled in farming?

That I have my own home farm that I am already compliant with what Nigeria’s hard times demand of Nigerians shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. I have got space in my humble home in Lagos mainland. I grow yam, plantain, vegetables and breed flowers. I am even thinking of doing fishery and poultry farming. Now that prices of foods have spiked so high, this is a reasonable thing to do. I believe you will agree with me.

I am encouraged by the efforts of Oluyinka Alawode, my colleague in BusinessDay years back. She worked with me on the Industry and Agric Desk in BusinessDay. She is an Agriculture graduate who now runs Farm Café online. She is an expert in home gardening.

Sweet potatoes planted failed

I planted sweet potatoes and was hoping I would have an abundant harvest. No way. It failed to yield a single tuber. Why? All rules for potato planting were flouted due to lack of knowledge.  I have the following for you from Martha Stewart of marthastewart.com if you are interested in planting sweet potatoes:

Caring for Sweet Potatoes

While sweet potatoes are considered a relatively easy crop, they require a few specific conditions in order to thrive.

Sunlight

Sweet potatoes require at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. “If you grow sweet potatoes in partial shade, their growth can slow down, and their leaves may fade or look less vibrant,” says Peters. 

Temperature

Sweet potato slips should be planted outside about two to four weeks after your last frost date has passed, says Luay Ghafari, creator and recipe developer at Urban Farm and Kitchen. “But a more important indicator is soil temperature,” he says. “The soil temperature should be at least 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and I recommend using a soil thermometer.”

Warm soil helps sweet potatoes grow quickly and develop strong, healthy roots. They are sensitive to frost, so provide protection if temperatures drop below 50 degrees. 

Soil

Peters encourages planting sweet potatoes in well-draining sandy or loamy soil.  “Avoid using poorly drained, heavy, clay soil because it can make your sweet potatoes smaller, longer, or misshapen,” she says. “Heavy soils can retain too much moisture, leading to root rot and other fungal diseases.”

Fertilizer

Once the soil reaches the optimal temperature, Ghafari recommends a high phosphorus amendment. “Phosphate helps promote root growth, which is exactly what we want as sweet potatoes grow underground,” he says. “Throughout the season, sweet potato vines can be fertilized with a liquid fertilizer higher in phosphate and potassium than nitrogen. If you use a high-nitrogen fertilizer, it’ll promote the growth of green foliage, not roots.”

NB/ I will bring you more stuffs on sweet potatoes in the coming weeks.

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