fiddzy:
Good day sir, I was trying to ask a question earlier but network was messing up, sorry for that sir. Please what is your take on the jarah variety a dry season tomatoe from rijk zwann. I watched a video on a farmers field day, the tomatoe was actually planted on open field. 8 weeks after transplanting the fruit were still green not matured yet. But weigh 2.4 kg at that moment. I did a little test of about 100 stands of their mydas , I was impressed.

Attit:


Mydas is seedless, so you dont have any trouble with it. It will flourish. I only grow seedless myself if I need to do at all. I can still use gynecious too, but I hardly do cucumber again. My focus are on exotic fruits - as in bottling and boxes of fruit juices and tomatoes. Mydas is not a bad variety. It's just that it is too expensive for farmers here.

Now to Jarrah. It is a good variety I can use, but I don't use it. The way it is made, it is for all seasons. Let me explain again something. Thank you for even bringing this up.

The latest bioweapon is virus
Fungi and Bacteria are not the focus of scientists. What they are interested in is virus. Virus can easily be manipulated. This is why all the latest diseases are viral. Ebola too is same. The same with crops and livestocks. Ask our poultry guys and they will tell you what viral diseases can do. Ask them about Newcastle, fowlpox, Infectious Bronchitis, and Marek. These are mostly dreaded infections they run away from. They always run after vaccines. If you arent using vaccine, you better get your organic remedies on ground. And as soon as you see it falling, vaccine straight before you start managing with antibiotics which will not cure it. Thanks to my NL friend who assisted me with organic and inorganic broiler management issues recently. Rabbit farmer can testify what virus did to them about 2 years ago. They all gathered together like kids in the old story TV story lines for kids called "Tales by Moonlight" to tackle the issue. I was just laughing whenever some of them consulted me them. Lol. Virus are bast.ards

Do you know that many people had Covid-19 in Nigeria? Most market women had it, but they had organic remedies for virus, but they didnt know. And they are excellent with treating fever. So, they quickly defeated it. Did you see any market woman in isolation center? Those going to isolation centers are oyinbo lifestyle people and politicians. Lol.

Here is my point, virus is the next weapon. And all seeds manufacturers are presently working on this area. Well, bacteria are still there, do not get me wrong, but you can still arrest them. Don't joke with virus, and they are made in such a way that they are spread through wind. This made them deadly.

Jarrah has no resistance to any bacteria that I know of. All kinds of bacteria will crush it. But the two viral diseases common in both wet and dry season, it can resist to reasonable extent. It could have qualified as one of my choices if the breeders has included the main root bacterial infection which trouble us in the southern part of Nigeria which is bacterial wilt. Please, dont get me wrong, I can work with it perfectly, but it will cost me more to assure you that bacterial wilt will not crush it. Most farmers cannot do it. I can only introduce this method to a large scale farmers. I am talking of 100 acres. Well, if I know someone who is like me, with 20 acres, the person can too. Just that it's expensive and requires medium level skill to tackle. So, I would rather avoid it if I know bacteria will crush it.

So, can you manage bacterial wilt? For you to have survived till now, it means bacteria and fungi in your soil are presently on hibernation mode, or they arent present. So, I assure you that if you space your plants well, you will reap bountiful harvest cos the plants will keep getting bigger. Make sure your stakes are strong. Dont use those tiny stakes you see that they use for cobra. And make sure you remove foliar from the base as you progress upward to prolong the life of the plants. Free flow of air is good for your plants. Stake very well sir.

8 weeks only? Just 56 days. Start getting worried from 75 days. Ha ba! It's too early. You cannot compare Jarrah with Cobra. Cobra rushes out, but Jarrah and its kind gather strength first so as to give you many fruits.

You mean you removed the green fruits prematurely and they weigh 2.4kg?

Give me details. How many fruits do you have per plant presently? What's your spacing like?

Also, heat delays tomatoes from getting ripened, but there are varieties which combats this. This is another issue you should know. But yours is still early at 8 weeks (56 days). 10 days can do the magic. That's 66 days, and you still have even another 10 more days more before you start getting worried. I think you are a bit impatient. That's it. If you have removed the fruits, hmmm... Believe me, if you had waited, it's likely the same number of fruits may hit 3.5kg cos they can still get bigger after 20 days cos they will take in more water.

If you follow my instructions, be ready for a serious harvest with that Jarrah. Then, Jarrah cannot resist nematode, but that is a minor issue you can tackle easily. Their other variety cannot tolerate dry season at all. That's Gamhar, but can tolerate nematodes, it's better to go for Jarrah so that you move from dry season to rainy season with the same variety and keep it there for a long period on your farm (only if you can manage bacterial infections).

fiddzy:
Thank you for the reply sir, actually it was a farmers field day by iita, spacing was 30cm, they made use of plastic mulch. It was 42 fruits on the plant they were all green ,it was harvested immature.

Attit:

Post the video here if you have.

How many plants in the field?
Spacing btw rows
Open field or under greenhouse?
Exact date the tomatoes were harvested (date, month, year)

---

Someone sent me the link of the video, and there is no way you can tell they use 30cm. Its 56days and huge like that, and it has around 70 - 80 more days to go according to my calculation based on all the guy said in the video. It plant will be huge. If you want to enjoy it, you etger space it. I do not know why you use tiny space for tomato (cos you want to have more plants?). This was how one guy was arguing seriously to the extent of using 20cm spacing drip. The false report again by the guy was that Jarrah is dry season, actually it is all round season. But I stand on my ground, cobra and the rest are tougher than it. But to make improvement on it is far easier than on cobra and the likes. Among the huge plants, it is one of the lowest ranks in my opinion cos of its diseases tolerance arent that much. Gammar is even worse. If you have challenges with thrips whiteflies and fruigflies, you may be in trouble. And if heat suddenly ly come during dry season, it will affect it. What ai do not agree with you is the 30cm spacing. Even they mentioned it in the video, the person who managed it should try bigger space and see the difference.

betabread:
spend a little time and talk about the local heir loom seeds with respect to locations in the sw..i know yield is poor but permit my indulgence

betabread:
what are hazera variety answers to the following problems in the south west..............

1.) heavy rainfall(corresponds with season of high prices)

2.)High Temprature( Average temprature when tomato prices are High is 30 daytime and 29 Night time)

I have seen a friend grow tomato with successfuly but unprofittably on his pilot plot with a pletora chemicals at times I wonder if the tomatoes were suffering from AIDS, he never uses the same chemical twice................... Add staking to that and one is tempted to ask "Do i Have to go through all this to make money"...................................

Please tell us how Hazera is coming in to help Farmers...... Tomato headache no be beans o

betabread:
I would post a set of pictures and would welcome ur criticism....... don’t mince the words

Attit:
Milestone in Plant Breeding

Crop domestication started a long time ago. Farmers select the best wild species to develop crops. Do you know that the first set of tomatoes weren't red? Also, the first set of watermelons weren't red inside. Do you knkw there are green riped, black, brown, orange, pink, purple etc tomatoes? Red tomato was strange to rhe first people who ate them, but are normal now. Lol. It's all a out DNA. Note that I have strong believe this present GMOs should be banned. And I have written about it. But what next? Let us read on.

In 10,000 BC, wheat was domesticated. And during this time, farmers started using bulls to plough their farms. I guess some farmers in the north still use bulls to plough their land. Why is Africa so backward?

In early days after seeds domestication, George Mendel ddescribed the inheritance of traits from one generation to the next - Mendel's law. His law became the core of classical genetics.

And this gave birth to Plant breeding based on cross breeding. Development of improved varieties by combining good characteristics from two parents came into play. This was the birth of hybrid breeding - crossing two genetically different individuals to develop better performing hybrids.

In 1926 more vigorous hybrid corn was made.

Mutagenesis breeding started. New genetic diversity was developed by exposing crop plants to chemical agents or radiation. They started seeing the effect. This is the start of chemicals. What a blessing and curse!!! I think the first people benefitted from it, but we are the ones suffering it cos we have created too many artificial and chemical products which have destroyed our ecosystem. Then, I think the next generations after us will benefit cos there will be a balance soon when scientists understand everything well. And presently, it seems, science is getting it. Yes, they are presently in the right direction of using DNAs accurately and safely for breeding. But presently, I wont be a Guinea pig for the next generation to benefit from. Let me enjoy my life and grow old. If they eventually perfected aging reversing, we will go for it. We will live beuong 500 years of possible. Who says science cannot do it? Well, let's see if it can be possible during our own generation. Mehn! Science is a sophisticated. Please, do not be Rank Xerox. We can do so much together.

In 1940, blast-resistant rice was developed.

In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick identified the double helix of DNA. This was when scientists started to understand the structure of DNA, and creating breeding based on it started. Plant breeding based on genetic information replaced old ways started gaining ground. Scientists started working directly with DNA.. And then Massive open field cultivation started cos we have seeds which csn tolerate harsh weathers. Mehn! Humans have come a long way. More land areas were cultivated with the invention of tractors and other farm machineries.

Then, the breakthrough came and DNA can be isolated. In 1994 Insect resistant cotton was developed. This is one of the first GMO seeds - Introducing foreign genes into the DNA of a plant. The targeted gene is first isolated, and then, injected into a variety to create a new variety. Boom. That was it. However, it came with lots of troubles. And anti GMO seeds came up because there were adverse effect on people. High rates of cancer and autoimmune diseases came into play. I will talk more about this. Please note that, I was a capital NO GMO seeds person as at 2 years ago. But I can tell you that I am beginning to give them consideration. Rather than criticize them, I joined them to let them see the challenges they should pay attention to, and stop them from using political gods to silence concerned people and kill more.

In 2000, the game changed totally. Though, introduction of foreign genes was still going on, scientiest came up with Marker-Assisted Selection - locating desirable traits in a plant for efficient selection and breeding. So, rather than tampering with the gene and then extract as a foreign gene into another plant, they found a way of detecting the location of the traits (which we can call gene also). And then they can manipulate it with the 1926 invention of cross breeding. Boom! That was it. And many companies have developed this. This is what everyone doing seeds not labeled as GMO is doing. They find traits (identifying genes without tampering with it), and then fuse the genes together to be more efficient than 1926. Though, crossbreeding is the thing. And they combine with self fertilization also.

Since then, many methods have been adopted, among which are creating F1, F2, F3 F4, F5, even up to F30 at times. Another one is backcrossing. Inbreeding and pure breeding then came into play. And this is the motive of all seed companies now. Even this is the case with live stocks. You will hear the terms - grandparents, parents, and commercial breeds in livestocks breeding. They are just telling you that they are: F-series of plants. That's all. And they stopped at a particular serie. If they want to progress and make more money, they simple step down again in the series. First they identify a trait they want and then use a method to stabilize it. It can take some time to get it right, but eventually, they always do.

Scientists have seen why they should not tamper with genes and remove it as a foreign entity, but since they can locate them, they know that they need to still go into them directly and manipulate them to achieve better things. You know that the year 2,000 MAS discovery opened their eyes. And this is what Hazera, EastWest, Technisem, RZ etc are all using presently. I want to state that all these methods right from cross breeding is gene manipulation. This is the honest truth, however, tampering with it is what makes GMO seed. They remove the gene and inject it else where in case of GMOs. But the other kind flushes out undesired genes and fused in desired genes. In the olden days, it can take 15 years to get a good product, but now with advance tech, it takes a shorter period of time. Scientists who removed genes and inject as a foreign gene have said they will not stop, but find another way to make theirs better and safer. This is good.

So instead of extracting DNAs, they came about with Gene Editing methods. They found a way to start editing genes in plants and animals. This technology is going to lead to cure of many genetically diseases such as sickle cell, cancer, and autoimmune, if and only if it is proven to be safe. It's too early to criticize them. But who wants to be used as a guinea pig? Well, let's see. But it looks promising.

Recently, doctors created a genetic pig and transplanted its kidney to human, but the patient used was already brain-dead. However, they saw that the kidney was not rejected as human body used to reject pig's kidney. Of all animals, pigs organs are similar to human. They are even more intelligent than dogs. So, why do people eat pigs? But toy touch dogs, they shout. Why not pigs? For christ sake, pigs are more intelligent and even closer to human than dogs. This is why military doctors used to use pigs to practise trauma surgery some years back. These doctors who treat wounded soldiers dissected many pigs alive. Horrible scene...I must say. So what really happened in the pig-human kidney transplant? They know pig's kidney and ours are similar, but its always been rejected by human body. So, they made research and found the hormone responsible. So they genetically edit the dna of the pig used so that the hormone responsible will be knocked out. And then, they saw that it worked in a brain-dead patient who needed kidney transplant. Viola!

Using this technique two products have been created and made known. Though, I know there are others products, but the one I will talk about is the GABA tomato developed in 2020 and registered in 2021 by Japan. They edited the gene of tomato and made it to be able to reduce the pressure in blood. This is being tested on high blood pressured patients presently. Well, I wont eat it now but it makes sense. I know someday, we will have no choice but to accept them. The main concern is the introduction of foreign genes which caused too much damages, and they wanted to force it on us. Monsanto had to start using Bayer cos of bad reputation with GMO.

Let's see how gene editing plays out. Meanwhile, markers are still the real deal being used as non GMO seeds. Though, they all alter DNAs. But for the fact that they dont edit or extract them is why they are accepted - natural knock ins and out. But gene editing seems to be the boom. I think if it satisfies many conditions, its producs may not be labeled as GMOs. Already the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) has not yet classified it under GMO and I think has even said it's not in their mandate or so. Really I need to check again. But the issue is that this is a new tech which no one knows how to classify it. I think Japan says, it will not be classified under GMO. But we wont really know until we start seeing the after effect. It looks promising in my opinion, and it will likely make all traditional and conventional methods obsolete if there is little complication with it which they will quickly correct.

Now that we know the history of breeding, we can start learning why some seeds are so expensive. I need to tweak your brains in the right direction.

Let's go there.

Attit:
Start up cost for small farms

Someone asked me to assist again with proper start up cost for a small farm. Honestly, it is hard to for me to do. I do not want to do this again since I know my standard is high, and many here run away. But the truth is that what I read here are craps. Do not get me wrong, there are quality stuff if you scrutinize, but hmmmm....

For example, good farmers know a particular (very popular) agro chemical company which needs to be shut down. And these are the useless products farmers run after. The products they sell arent good. They first make them good, and then, they later reduced the quality without making them known to buyers. And many run after these products simply cos they are cheap. There are 100ml content from other brands that can cost over N10k, while 500ml from that place costs N3k. Since you cannot differentiate it, you go for the cheap one. Meanwhile, when told to buy the other, you dont listen.

First let me talk about sales. Let's use the usual 1 acre drip sold. To me, this standard is wrong as the requirements needed depend on the style of farming and the crop. Most use 4,000m drip roll. For this, I will certainly use 8 plots. Meaning if you are using exactly 1 acre, you need less.

Good morning sir. Please do you mean using 4000m drip on an 8 plots of land one. It's best to use 1.25m spacing as the spacing between row , in other to achieve 4000m / 8plots instead of the usual practice of 1m spacing between rows. Please, if I am wrong , I will be glad if you could shed some light to this sir. Thanks. Your boy wants to learn more oo..

Seeds requirement:
You calculate based on your drip. You can use 30cm, 40cm, 50cm. I go as far as 80cm or even 1m for some of my varieties. Anyway, for the usual 30cm and 40cm, cobra, platinum, padma, and the rest in their category.

If using 30cm, you need about 13,333 seeds, but you need to get extra. They tell you to get 10% extra, but if your seeds are viable, no need. 3 -5% could be used. A can of cobra is the cheapest which gives around 15,000 seeds. If you buy directly from the seller, it's around N23K of N24K presently. But can go as high as N27k to N30k from resellers. Meanwhile, per approx 3,000 seeds of Padma, Platinum can be around N6k to N11k.

Then, you need about 10,100 - 10,500 viable seeds for 40cm emitters.

And 8,100 - 8,500 for 50cm emitters.

Now using robust seeds, you need to budget N7 to N11k per seed for most. When you buy Jarrah at N10,000 - N11,500, for 1k seeds, then calculate the cost of one. Oh Yeah! Now you know the reason people run away. Lol. But this should not be so. You dont run away from good seeds. I am not promoting Jarrah at all, infact, it doesnt have resistant to all bacterial infections I know. And if you get any of these diseases, you are a loser. What if you decide to go for Shanty of Galileo of Hazera. That's N28 to N31 per seed. Calculate how much you need.

Let me use shanty, 50cm spacing, 9,000 seeds. That's N234,000 for Shanty. Meanwhile, you spend N23,000 for cobra, and you have excess remaining. Is it worth it? Believe me! It is if you know what you are doing. And we can still even get some cheaper seeds which can resist more and more. Shanty has been around for more than 7 years, while there are those who came out 2 years ago with improved versions. Even, there are 2021 improved versions. But I cannot give info about these cos they arent on the shelves here. You should go for what is there. Again, if you cannot know how to handle some issues like bacterial wilt, your shanty will be crushed, while youe cheap cobra will do well.

And is using cobra of N23k ok? It depends on you. Do what you know you want to do. It is hard telling you what to do. The condition of the farm and your financial state should tell you what to do. It is just easier to work with a big farm as we can just get huge seeds of like 3 million seeds at once and cut down the prices. I have moved in up to 30 million seeds in a batch a couple of times. But working with small farmers and trying to convince them on going for quality is what I do not want to engage in again. If roma is what works for you, do it well.

So using 50cm drip. And I believe choosing a seed which can give 8 -10kg (though, no one will say this, but you make your investigation well...pilots help), you should get at least 4kg on 80% of the the whole plants. You should have 25tons minimum. This is like me being realistic here. Sales: N12m if you set it at the second quarter of the year.

If you ask me what I will achieve? Lol. This will cover 7.5 to 8 plots (more than 1 acre), and I will definitely achieve 40tons and above cos I go.for the best. As in spend heavily. My sales target is N20million and above. So, I will definitely spend nothing less than N5million on the total cost of production. Can you do it? And by the following year, my expenses will be pushed down seriously cos I wont buy mulch, drip, pumps, etc again. And I farm just once in 2 years or 3 years now. Why? I have so many engagements that to go to farm is hard. And I need super internet connectivity every time which I cannot get on farm. My only prayer at this time is that Space Internet comes to Nigeria. I swear, I do not mind to buy 1,000 acres for fresh vegetables and build a house there with security, and live permanently. This is the only reason I cannot farm continuously. Too bad!

Drip and its accessories are from N250k to N400k. And you have to buy some other plumbing materials. You can just add 10%. I hope that its enough. Then, your choice of wafer pump depending on the kind of water reservoir you have. Also, will you be using generator? Fuel or diesel and what is the capacity. How old is your power system?

Covering 4,000m mulch can cost you around N600,000 for very thin ones which do not last long, but I gat a guy who recently told me about something good which is ok around in Nigeria. This is fine. I think N350k will get this. Not bad. But if you are like me, then, super kind that will last for even 10 years if you use yearly I can use on a small piece of land like up to 10 acres. Wow! Then, this is huge, and can run to 1 million for the calculation we are doing. Most people will definitely choose rhe cheapest. Though, I think the N350k option isnt bad at all, but do you want it last longer and even give you 0.5kg to 1kg extra yield for every 5 plants?

As for foliar sprays, good brands are expensive. This is what I need you to know. There are even some in powder form which are tiny pieces, but are super expensive. Chemicals, fertilizers, nutrients for NPK and micro, immune builders, etc. Many things to consider. Plants are under cold, heat, dry wind? Every kind of climatic condition requires different maintenance. And this is what many do not know. This is how I always push my yield to optimum. Fine, yours is to just get NPK, Lime, etc and dump. I am glad many are using DAP, SSP etc. Of course, I understand my previous articles have redefined many things as sellers read them. For this, I am grateful to God. And that God has used me this way to make changes in Nigeria, I am so grateful and thankful. This way, I give back to the society. So, at low budget, I expect you to spend around N100k max, some even will spend N10k to N20k. But if you are really going to hit it big, you may spend close to N300k or more. There are some things you cannot even get at all in Nigeria. So, people with strict budgets cannot work with me. You are on your own. Sorry.

Soil nutrients are ok. But the choice of what to use is hard. I always use special microbes I formulate based on special scientific procedure. I have tried to do low budget and the result was not good. If I don't do it, then guess work has started which I dont do. But a farmer who doesnt understand this doesnt need to do it. Many battle fusarium and other diseases which could be really prevented or managed. How you treat your manure is vital. Many rush it. Even to get manure is a big issue for many, and they start managing it. Many even delay it for long. These are issues that should be addressed. If you cannot keep to schedule, do not go into it. Dont try it. When you start missing deadlines, things start going wrong. Missing deadlines reduce yield. For this template, I recommend 8, 10, 13.3 tons if using 50cm, 40cm, 30cm respectively. How many of you actually use up to this? Can you even source for it? The manure should be dry. Do the calculation if you are buying. But there should be ways to reduce the cost.

Staking is a must if you want to hit it big. How do you go about it? You need to get the cost also. I cannot give you this.

Salary or casual workers pay should be standby. This one reason is why I do not talk to small farmers. If I work on farm or I give you waht to do, just know that your workers will complain cos they are used to doing rubbish work. How many workers will enter bush and cut bamboos and be happy with you after? But then, you will spend more buying. What do you do? How many will smile at you after packing manure? You are looking for trouble if you dont know what to do after. Yet, many small farm owners tried to push blame at me like 6 years ago when I was still attending to many of them. You made them do what they arent used to, and you didn't and still dont m know what to do to motivate them, and you blamed me when they start messing up your farm. The person is not OKAY at all. So, I quit talking to these people. Managing big farms where machines are available and workers take far more than minimum wage, and they beg to work on the farm is ok for me to work with. I hope you are following me. And then, sacking workers that start stealing is easy on big farms while small farms continue to manage crazy workers. How do you expect to make it? Those making it on NL manage their farms themselves. Some of them are even their own labor, amd they get help only when needed. Lol. Cant you see? If you cannot manage your farm yourself, you are the joke if you do not know how to motivate your workers. That is on you and not on anyone else. And since I know many small owners are fault pushers to others, there is no point to even work with them anymore.

But I look for team players everytime. If you are busy, find a trust worthy person. To get a trust worthy person is hard, and they can come anytime. So, get all your materials ready first. You can spend 4 months to source for these items (perhaps you import them yourself). Also, you may need to buy from sellers here and not wait till you are ready to sow seeds. If you find yourself in a situation a particular item is not available and you have to manage, it is your fault and no one else.

Do not go for loan for a small scale farm. Use your money so you do not start rushing it cos of the interest you have to pay. Or go for annual interest, and take your time. Don't go for weekly or monthly interests oooo.

I think I have mentioned the basic things necessary here. If you are on the farm and you are the farmer, you can easily do things like what you read on NL. But if you arent on farm, you better use your head and do what is right.

1. Get quality you can use and reuse so that even you fail the first year, you go again the following year. Learn from the mistake of the first.

2. Always rest. Do not injure yourself.

3. Go for big yield, make it one time, and move out to return and make more.

More points & Recap
1. If you have resources, install cameras and monitor everything. Let the person you have on your farm know this. If possible, get real time ones. The challenge is always online connectivity. Ooops! I think, mor options are available. You can make investigation on this

2. Invest heavily on soil ammendment. People do not knkw about it. All they do is just do "sharp sharp" job.

3. Invest heavily on foliar sprays for high yield

4. Invest heavily on drip and mulch. Very important.

5. Make your supervisor or your manager your right hand man. He determines your success or failure. Make sure that he is a good person who is dependable. You are the one solely responsible for this. If you don't get it right, you are in a big problem.

6. You do not have time cos you are busy; yet, you want to buy inferior quality, so you buy everytime. How is this efficient?

7. The choice of making 0.5kg per plant and have 13,000 plants on an acre is before you. It is fine and good. Though, you can make 2kg per plant and shoot it to 26tons per acre instead of 7.5tons. But can you really manage it? Can the person you put in charge manage it? Can you really pay for 13plants side dressing fertilization, staking, and pruning if needed? Can you easily maintain free air flow? Can you really manage it well? The choice is yours to make.

8. Looking at 8 above, the choice of having your equipment now and no need to buy in the next 10 years is before you in comparison to buying now and buy again next time. If you do not make it now, are you sure you can be motivated to buy again next year? The choice is yours to make. I tell people, if you do not have the money, do not do it. I have even tried to assist people in the past to manage their resources, but I have realised it is a gesture which turns evil everytime, and I dont need to never get involved again.

So, if you want to make N12million to N20million sales using an acre drip (Nigerians sellers standard) on 9 plots of land, dont you think it's worth investing 5 million naira the first while your cost drops drastically the following years? I am sure after the first round, you can make even better decisions on how to reduce your cost of production much more even you want to expand or set up in new places. Sure, you can. And if you see the potential in the farm is huge, it can motivate you to take vacation and go for bigger land and hit it bigger.

But please, I am talking more about quality and big farms more in this thread. Also, keep in mind that the main motive here is to make you decide better which variety you should go for. You dont buy N10 per seed and just use any damn cheap stuff out there to grow them.

betabread:
is it possible to grow large acrage with only manure..................possibly human manure compost............. How would you go about it especially handling........................ My experience with compost and manure tells me its better than fertilizers......................... handling is my only issue

Attit:

Human manure is filled with disease, so must be composted well. And the smell cannot allow local ways to do it. You will just get sick. You need heavy machine to do it. Even livestock poo is dangerous. I pity people who handle them carelessly. And they will even be smiling after correcting them like they are super men.

Yes it's possible to use manure, though, plants manure too will be added. But it requires heavy finance. People who cannot buy drip are the ones who will buy heavy machines for commercial organisms food? And the price of organic food is not worth it. It's basically same as chemically produced food. So, why should anyone bother about it? If the price is like 1.5 to 10 times that of inorganic just like how it is in the US, it makes sense. If you want to eat organic, grow it yourself. I grow all my vegetables organically. I dont buy outside. I produce broilers organically too. Every week, I slaughter four 3-kg chickens that's around 8.5kg after removal of organs and skin.

You dont know how to use fertilizer. Though, compost is sure good. You still need it, but it can be combined well with manure. Even 99% nutrition can be fertilizer. Using fertilizer needs brain. And if using drip, it is even worse. This is what many dont know. And it is one of the reasons many farmers crash after 2 to 3 years of production.

When some farmers have successfully completed first cycle, they cut off everyone who assisted them. Many of them do this to avoid fulfilling their promises. Lol. But they cant return to the people who assited them. This subject about fertilization is vital. See, give such farmer 3 years, everything will crash. To know what to do comes from deep decision making ability, and with a mathematical mind. If I give you a formular for this year, you better not use it again, but ask me. You use it next year and repeat again and again will result in turning your land to a barren land. Many who I gave formulation to, would go and use it again and again. They always crash.

With manure, you can survive with a carefree attitude. Just continue dumping there. But with fertilizer, its a different ball game. When you go to fam, you should get better. But Nigerian farmers get worse, and they eventually quit. I know some guys who are gifted with handling workers. They are so good in it. And this is an area I dont even want to know. Cos I cannot be monitoring and running after adults. For what? But those guys who are successful treat workers like animals they are. Funny, they still crash. Why? They mostly succeed the first time. The subsequent ones are losses. But they arent ready to improve. I always advise them to keep changing sites, and they practise leaving their land to rest for 7 to 10 years like our forefather. Lol.

Sir, if you do soil preparation well, you will use fertilizer very well. When you continue putting the right living organisms in your soil, and you protect them, and then you follow the right dosage and application method, nothing stops you from making huge harvest back to back, year after years to come on the same land.

Dont farm blindly. Always do soil tests. I'm not talking about nutrient tests. A complete test. And it is so expensive. So I dont see how farmers can be consistent here. In the north, they rest land and practise rotation very well. They dont joke with it. But in the south, this is not the case.

Please, if you see a farmer who has been winning back to back for the past 5 to 10 years, kindly let me meet the person. They always crash.

betabread:


This is my biggest advantage in manure(compost).................... Remove smell and the level of supervision of workers is low.....................a friend of mine lost a farm recently just because he was not there to monitor the placing of fertilizers........................................

can u give me a strategy to carry manure(swine, poultry, cow, Goats, human or even abbatoir) that is cost effective and requires minimal human handling before being dumped on the farm.....

A friend of mine from the north says that is the work for donkeys and camels up there........................... I'm seriously considering raising such farm animals for this purpose.....