Ghanafarms

Monday 29 December 2014

Soil Fertility and Farming in Ghana

Hello, warmly welcome to Ghanafarms, the number one blogspot on agriculture in the the country. I would like to wish all our readers and customers merry Christmas and happy new year. This year has been great for us but we promise you that the coming year is going to be excellent and massive. We are going to share many tips with you and also advise and encourage you to go into farming the coming season.
Great, today we are going to talk about soil fertility and farming in Ghana for that matter Africa. Soil fertility basically is the ability or the capacity of the soil to supplied nutrients in adequate amounts and in the right proportions and ensure steady flow of the nutrients to plant throughout the growing season. Many soils in Ghana and Africa as a whole do not have the adequate amount of nutrients thus poor yields are recorded at the end of the season. A visit to many farms in the country show that, large hectares of farmland are cultivated especially for maize but as usual small number of bags are packed at the end of the growing period. I do not blame farmers for this since many do not know the ways of replenishing soil fertility. Before I go on to talk about ways of improving soil fertility, remember that, every field contains a maximum of one or two and minimum of one or two nutrients.

WAYS OF REPLENISHING SOIL FERTILITY

There are many ways we can employ in order to make our soils fertile so that we can have bumper harvest even if the the plot of land cultivated is not larger enough. Some of these are as follows fallowing, green manuring, cover cropping, mulching, application of farm yard manure, lime and inorganic fertilizers. Let us take time and critically look at each of these methods one after the other.

FALLOWING

This simply talks about the process of reshuffling and recycling of the nutrients. This process increases the organic matter content of the soil due to the decomposition of fallen leaves, seeds, twigs and branches. The humus content also get increased because of activities of both macro and micro organisms like termites and earthworms, root slough and exudation. This method is however effective in the forest zone than the grassland area due to less biomass and bush burning resulting in bare soils in the latter. Fallowing, nowadays has become difficult to practice since many of these farmlands have been taken up for commercial purposes such as real estate development and also population increase has increased pressure on the land acquisition and use thus farmland do not usually fallow.

GREEN MANURING

Green manuring plant.

This is another method of replenishing the nutrients in the soils in order to support plant growth. In this method, plant mainly leguminous plants are grown on the field and then they are incorporated into the soil to enrich it and support plant growth. These plants are ploughed into the soil hence plants used for this method must be fast growing and easy to eradicate. Although this method is good, here in Ghana it is not practice mainly due to the socioeconomic situation we found ourselves. Inability of many farmers to access tractor, the climate and geographical location of the nation are some of the factors.

COVER CROPS

Cover crop

Cover crops are low growing crops that are grown to primarily give a protective covering of the soil. These crops perform many functions that help to replenish the fertility of the soil. The functions include the following :

- prevent soil erosion through protecting soil against direct impact of rain drops and reduction of surface runoff.

- regulate the temperature of the the soil by providing shade to the soil hence reduce rays of the sun from direct contact to the soil.

- improve the soil structure and organisms in the soil.

- conserve the soil moisture.

Growing of cover crops is commonly practice here in the country mainly in the tree plantation.

MULCHING

Mulching material

Like cover crops, mulching have the same objectives and functions. So I would not like to repeat this but the only thing I would like to add here is that mulching is mainly materials which is not planted or grown. It is can be weeds, sawdust or anything that can function as covering to the soil.

FARM YARD MANURE

Farm yard manure

Farm yard manure consist of a mixture of three general classes of constituents ; domestic animals dung or feaces, urine and any materials used for bedding and any miscellaneous waste farm product.

Farm yard manure is a source of plant - food. Manure contains Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium compounds which are the constituents needed in the soil for growing crops. Manure promotes the growth of useful organism in the soil. These organism break down complex compound into simple which decomposed adding nutrients to the soil. Many farmers do add farm yard manure to the soils here in Ghana but the problem I have seen with this method has got to do with its application. Many just put them on the leaves of the growing crops in order to prevent animals from feeding on them. This does not help to achieve the purpose of farm yard manure.

INORGANIC FERTILIZERS

Inorganic fertilizers

These are artificially or synthetically manufactured plant food which when added to the soil support plant growth and development. There are many types of fertilizers. Many farmers used fertilizers on the field because of the fact that they give instant results and are easy to acquire. Hence fertilizers have been the order of the day in Ghana especially in the Northern part where without which nothing can thrive. This development has made the rest of the methods very unpopular and are not practice well.

It is therefore our hope that farmers will start to implement some of these methods to improve production level.

Our next episode is going to be purely on fertilizers that is the inorganic type. We shall look at the various elements that make up the fertilizer and their functions in the soils. See you and take good care of yourself.

Monday 27 October 2014

PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURE IN GHANA

Hello, warmly welcome to Ghanafarms, the number one blogspot on agriculture in the country. In my last post, I talked about some of the importance of agriculture to our motherland Ghana. We found out that Agriculture had benefited the country in many ways some of which include the provision of food, serving as sources of raw materials to industries, sources of employment as well as income to farmers and many others. Today, I am going to talk about problems associated with agriculture production in Ghana thus militating the country’s dream of becoming self sufficiency in food production.

First and foremost, inadequate extension or technical personnel in the sector has made the production level to be stagnant. Education is the key to development without which one is powerless as the gunpowder. Farmers who produce agriculture products need training on the new and improved methods of production. Nowadays, many farmers have turned to the usage of chemicals to get rid of weeds on their farms due to the unavailability of farm hands. The problems with this chemical application is numerous ranging from killing of the useful micro and macro organisms in the soil, reduction of taste many root and tubers to killing of the farmer and his immediate family. It is therefore necessary for the technical officers to train farmers on the usage of the chemical, but in our country, the services of these officers has been neglected thus farmers use the chemicals anyhow and anywhere hence the low production of food production.

Infertile soils hinders food production

Most of the soils around has lost its fertility due to continuous farming and numerous outbreak of bush fire. Due to the continuous cropping of many root and tubers and cereals which use much of the soil nutrients, many of our soils have not been able to yield as expected. Hence, there is the need to replace the depleted nutrient in the soil that result in poor harvest. It is therefore incumbent on technical officers to teach farmers on the methods of regaining the soil fertility to improve food production.

Most farmers still use hoe and cutlass

The subsistence production in Ghana is another challenge in the development of agriculture in the country. Subsistence farming is the type of farming where the farmer produces food and other agricultural product for consumption by the farmer and his or her family and the surplus are sold. In a situation, where the farmer’s product are grown for sale the resource of the subsistence economy is said to be commercial. The challenge with subsistence farming whether commercialize or not is the limited capital input. The methods employed tend to be traditional – the hoe and cutlass are the common implements still used. There is limited use of tractor or animal power for cultivation. Due to this, the country still depends on other country for food.

The system of land holding is also problematic. In this country, the land holding is based on the principle of traditional communal rights. The communal system of land holding does not encourage economic use of land for agricultural purposes. Hardworking farmers cannot use communal land as security for obtaining loans loans from financial institutions because they do own the land. Furthermore, where land is shared among the number of individual as part of traditional inheritance system it leads to fragmentation. Land available for individual farming activities get smaller and this adversely affects the efficiency of farming and the productivity of the land.

Another problem is lack of record keeping on part of some farmers. Record keeping helps farmers to evaluate the performance within a given period of time. This will tell them success and failures ,where they are failing they can put some measures in place to check these failures. In a situation where the farmer does not keep records its becomes very difficult to access his or her progress, and this is what happens in, Ghana many of them do not keep records.

Environmental diseases hinder crop yields

Diseases and pests outbreak is another problem militating against agriculture production in Ghana. Many problems can arise when growing arable crops, vegetable as well as cash crops and rearing of farm animals. These can cause by diseases and pests. Diseases reduces the quality of agricultural products thus reduces its market value. The pests, mostly insect and their larvae. They cause mechanical damage to crops, farm animals. They also spread diseases. Furthermore, an outbreak of bush fires and environmental diseases hinders agricultural development. These and many others are some of the problems with agriculture here in Ghana.

Diseases and pest affects agriculture development

Please do leave your comments and subscribe to the blog for quick updates. Our next topic to be discuss will be on Soil fertility. Do make a day with me until then take good care.

Saturday 18 October 2014

Agriculture and Ghana

AGRICULTURE is an important enterprise in Ghana. It is estimated that about seventy percent (70%) of the working population are engaged in agriculture. It contributes to the basic necessities of life. Human beings cannot survive without crop plants and farm animals which we obtain food from. Agriculture according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary is the science or practise of farming including the growing of crops and the rearing of animals. To many Ghanaians, agriculture simple means farming. Farming is the act, science and skill of cultivating the soil to produce crops and the rearing of livestock and other farm animals.

Ghana map

Ghana is located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the sub region of West Africa. It is the eighty - second (82nd) largest country in the world and thirty - third (33rd) in the continent of Africa by land mass and has the land mass of 238535km^{2 . It has population of approximately 27 millions and the world's 45th most inhibited nation. Ghana varied agro -}ecological zone include the Rain forest zone, Coastal belt zone, Deciduous forest zone, Transitional zone, Northern savanna zone which is made up of Guinea and Sudan savanna respectively. Agriculture therefore means alot to this country. It plays important roles in the national economy and social development. Below are some of the benefits the Ghana derives from agriculture.

Vegetables

Supply food to the people : Food is necessary when it comes to the provision of nutritional needs of the people. Lack of food in the country can lead to malnutrition which can leads to poor economy due to the fact that malnutrition reduces the ability of people to work efficiently. When the country is self sufficiency in food production, the money which would have been used to import food from foreign country could be use in the development of the nation. With food on the table of every Ghanaian, nutrients which are carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, and vitamins will be supply to them to build their mental, social as well as emotional development.
Income for farmers : Farmers can get money from food crops, cash crops, and animals that they produce. The money that the farmers get can be used to purchase farm inputs and other seeds to expand their farms. The money can also be used for the up keeping of the family thus raising his / her standard of living.
Provision of raw materials for the local industries : Industries depend on raw materials for their production. While some of them have farms that supply them with the raw materials, others depend on farmers to supply them. When farmers are able to supply the needed raw materials to the industries in the country, the country will be industrialize thus enhancing development. The country will shun from importing raw material from foreign country hence saving money for national development.
Foreign exchange to the country : When farmers are able to produce enough raw materials to feed our industries, the excess can be exported to other country to earn money. Cash crops such as cocoa, coffee and pineapple are exported from the country to earn foreign exchange.These earnings could be used to purchase tractors, pesticides and other agriculture inputs.
Source of employment : Agriculture serves as the source of employment to many people in the country. Many working people in the country still have farms that they do along their work. Many people are engaged in both farming and non - farming occupations.

Ghanaian woman weeding

From the above, it is vividly clear that, the country benefits from agriculture production. Although agriculture has many benefits to the country, it is bedevil with many problems. I will discuss these challenges in my next post. Do not hesitate to come this blog and read the next post. Subscribe to the blog to receive new information and updates,

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