The success story of papaya farming.

The success story of papaya farming.

Farm security: crucial tips to improve safety.

Farm security: crucial tips to improve safety.In South Africa, being a farmer is more than twice as dangerous as being a police officer, and a farmer or farmworker is almost four times more likely to be murdered than the average South African. Henk Boshoff, who lives on a farm near Standerton, Mpumalanga, and his partner Mark Wilson, who works from the Strand in the Western Cape, are partners in a security company, Community Assets Tactical Security (CATS). They advise farmers on how to approach farm and community security, and put them in contact with those who can implement security infrastructure at the best prices.The area in which Henk lives was known for high crime rates, but after the community organised itself, this rate dropped drastically. “Farmers and farming communities are soft targets. They must become hard targets. To achieve this, the entire community must be involved,” he stresses.

Understanding the role of the boar in breeding.

Understanding the role of the boar in breeding.Novice pig farmers should start with highly marketable and popular breeds such as the Landrace or Large White. Good quality boars can rapidly improve the standard of piglets if you do not have the best females. If boars have any problems in terms of their health, fertility, living conditions or genetic traits, you can end up with genetically weak offspring, sows that fail to conceive, or other problems. These, in turn, can reduce your profitability. When buying a young boar, ask for a specimen that has grown at an above-average rate, has converted food into muscle rather than fat at a good feed-to-growth ratio, and has no physical or other imperfections, such as extreme aggression. There are other breeds such as the Duroc – red pigs some breeders use to add more desirable ‘meat traits’ and growth rates to their operation – but this form of breeding is best left to experienced farmers. A good boar should reach about 90kg at around 140 days old. Not more than about 3kg of good pig feed should be used for each kilogram of weight gained from when the pig weighs 30kg until it reaches 90kg: this indicates a good feed-to-weight gain ratio. Remember, too, that proper deworming, hygienic living conditions, including well-ventilated housing, vaccination, and access to clean, cool water are all important factors affecting good growth rates.

The many rewards of game farming in the Karoo.

The many rewards of game farming in the Karoo. Game animals have brought a new dimension to farm life in the arid Karoo. While doomsayers view the falling prices of game, notably that of colour variants, as proof that the long-predicted bubble has burst, game ranchers who cashed in on the boom believe the industry has so many facets that further growth is guaranteed. However, in the midst of this debate, there are farmers who are unsure about price movements in the future. Some have already invested heavily in high-value game. Others are still considering the idea of switching from livestock, or bringing game farming into their production plans. In extensive livestock regions, the main motivation for this would be to make a livestock enterprise more sustainable under unpredictable, low-rainfall conditions. But, while financial considerations are crucial when making such decisions, there is more to game farming than money, as any visit to a game ranch will show.

Economic & ecological benefits of hunting in Namibia.

Economic & ecological benefits of hunting in Namibia.In Namibia, hunting is a vital part of conservation and contributes to the economic sustainability of mixed farming operations, private game farms, and more importantly, communal conservancies. Why is hunting a good conservation strategy for Namibia? Hunting in Namibia is well regulated, conservation- and sustainability-based, and enshrined in the Constitution. We adhere to the laws, but also to ethical hunting principles, as we diligently follow the rules of fair chase and truly believe in them.The Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Namibia [MET] supports hunting. Why were the communal conservancies established? Local inhabitants were driven from their land into barren ‘reserves’ by the South African government, which applied apartheid principles to make way for South African farmers. In the northern Kunene region, Namibians and their livestock were forced to compete with wildlife for land. The first community conservation efforts in Namibia began here. The idea was to place wildlife in the hands of the very people, the local communities, accused of poaching by the government. How do they work? In communal conservancies, rural residents on communal land have the same rights to wildlife as private farmers, enabling them to diversify their income streams by operating tourism and trophy hunting businesses.

How snakes can help farmers.

How snakes can help farmers.Most people know about the destructive effect of insects on crops, but rodents can be equally destructive. This is the area snakes help; Insects are often blamed for attacking seedlings, when the real culprit could be a rat or a mouse. Not only do rodents damage seedlings, they also spoil stored grain with feces and urine. We treat insects with insecticides, we bang sticks and use scarecrows and other means to scare off birds, but when it comes to rodents, what can we do? In many cases we simply ignore them, or we resort to poison to kill them. Unfortunately we can’t control what animals may eat the poisoned rodents. see A better way to control rodents, and one that’s often overlooked, is to encourage natural predators to do the job. Rodents rate high on the feed list of many snakes. If the world’s snakes were eliminated, the rodent population would increase dramatically which would affect crop production. Apart from the threat to food security posed by rodent population growth, increased disease outbreaks would put a heavy burden on the health services of many countries, especially developing ones. Pest management This alone should be enough for the farmer to realize that, far from being a menace, snakes are the farmer’s friend and can be used as part of an integrated pest management system.We should be encouraging mole snakes (Pseudaspis cana) and house snakes (Lamprophis) into crop lands. In coffee plantations in India, snakes (including venomous ones, such as cobras, kraits and Russell vipers) are used to control rodents.

How to make your fruit trees produce 10 times more.

How to make your fruit trees produce 10 times more. 1.Go with Dwarfs. If you don’t want to wait several years to get fruit from your garden, consider planting dwarf varieties of your favorite trees. Dwarfs don’t grow as tall or as wide as a full-size tree so they begin to bear fruit within the first 2-3 years. These smaller trees also don’t require as much space, making them perfect for gardeners who want to grow their own fruit but don’t have a lot of land. 2.Prune as Needed. Fruit-trees ideally need to be trained in their first few years of growth into the shape you want them to maintain throughout their productive lives. Pruning should be done at the end of winter, before the tree comes out of dormancy. 3.Root-Suckers and Water-Sprouts. it is important to recognize that not all growth is good-growth. The production of flowers and fruit require a huge investment of nutrients and energy from your plants so you want to be certain that these resources aren’t being wasted where they aren’t needed. Root-suckers and water sprouts are two such wastes. New shoots that grow from the rootstock of a grafted fruit tree are known as root-suckers. These growths often look like a new plant that has taken root at the base of the existing parent. On the other hand, Water-sprouts are vertical shoots that grow straight-up from the established limbs of trees. While these growths aren’t nearly as undesirable as root-suckers, they can still be a waste of nutrients if they aren’t properly controlled. 4.Encourage Pollination Among your native plants, make sure something is blooming each season. Beneficial animals like bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, and bats are a few of the top-pollinators. For this reason, it is important to keep your garden hospitable for wildlife. Avoid overuse of pesticides which can kill beneficial-insects. 5.Know Your Soil. Plants are a lot like people in that different varieties and species have different tastes. It is important to know what balance of nutrients and trace minerals is best for each plant. Soil-pH can also play a big part in maximizing fruit yields. If you aren’t sure what kind of soil you have, it’s always better to test samples from around your trees and shrubs. Once you know what’s missing, you can amend the soil to boost future fruit-production. 6.Harvest Everything. This is perhaps the easiest advice to follow when it comes to growing successful fruit trees. Still, it bears mentioning. Unharvested fruit left-on the branch at the end of the season actually signals to the tree or bush that it made too much that-year. During the next growing season, the plant will actually produce less as a result. So make sure to pick-all of the fruit that your garden grows and let your plants know that you just can’t get enough!