AGRIBUSINESS: How to grow garlic at home and make money.

How to use farm waste to grow mushrooms.

How to use farm waste to grow mushrooms.Farmers intending to grow mushrooms for sale can use farm waste from their farms to grow the sweet food produce. 

The waste obtained from maize, sugarcane thrash, sawdust and banana leaves among other crops is ideal for mushroom growing because they thrive on a substratum. Mushroom is not grown on soil like the green plants; it’s grown on broken substrate whereby the crop obtains its nourishment. 

 The crop is steadily gathering pace as one of the preferred sources of investment in agribusiness with a promise of quick returns,mushroom is not a rain fed crop and it requires minimal space for growing. 

 The agricultural waste, which is easily available on farms, is soaked for three days and then heaped for fermentation for four to six days in a closed container. After the fermentation process, the agricultural waste is sterilized through boiling in closed pots for 12 hours in order to eliminate unwanted organisms and bacteria. After cooling, it is filled in small polyethylene plastic bags using common bowls, to serve as a substrate. 

 The substrate should be composed by 65 to 75 per cent of moisture, and for the remaining part by agricultural waste. It can be used for three harvests, and then it can be recycled as organic mulch or fertilizer. 

Alternatively, cotton seed waste can be used as substrate for oyster mushroom production. Polyethylene plastic bags are filled with the substrate (about five kilograms per bag), which is then inoculated with the mushroom spawns (spawns are ‘mixed’ with the substrate). Each garden of about five kilograms of substrate is filled with about 250 grams of spawns. At that time, plastic bags are closed manually.

Cockroach milk as food supplement for human consumption.

Cockroaches are on demand in pharmaceuticals in China who believe the insects can be used to cure stomach, liver and heart ailments. Cockroach milk as food supplement for human consumption. A new research indicates that cockroach milk can be transformed into a food supplement worthy of human consumption in future. “Protein crystals in cockroaches have a whopping three times the energy of an equivalent mass of buffalo milk and about four times the equivalent of cow's milk” said Leonard Chavas, one of the scientists behind the research.

Scientists revealed that the insect’s liquid takes the form of protein crystals in the guts of baby cockroaches. “The Pacific Beetle Cockroach feeds its bug babies a formula which is remarkably rich in protein, fat and sugar and was found to be complete food. The proteins in the particular species of the insect have high energy content that it helps infants within this unique species grow much bigger than cockroach babies of other species.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to grow garlic.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to grow garlic. Garlic can grow well at an altitude of between 500-2000 metres above sea level. The right temperatures for garlic are between 12-24 degrees celsius. Extremely high temperatures are not suitable for garlic production. Excess humidity and rainfall interferes with proper garlic development, including bulb formation. Garlic. The crop is grown in low rainfall areas where irrigation can be practised, especially in early stages when the plant requires enough water to growth. Adequate sunlight is important for bulb development. Garlic develops its flavour depending on sunlight conditions during growth. Garlic. AGRIBUSINESS: How to grow garlic. Garlic requires a fertile, well drained, light soil. Clay soils should be avoided since they lead to poor bulb development. Soil pH should be between 5.5 to 6.8. Deep soil cultivation is important to ensure rooting depth. see

How to use garlic as bio-pesticide.

                             How to use garlic as bio-pesticide.

Garlic is preferred in organic farming because it is reportedly effective against a wide range of disease-causing pathogens and insects.

Farmers who grow garlic type of onions can fight over ten pests and diseases linked to destruction of crops which may cause big losses on the farmers’ farms. #bio-pesticide.

 Garlic is among other crops which has ability to fight pests and diseases. It has an anti-feed- ant (insect stop feeding), bacterial, fungicidal, insecticidal, nematicidal and repellent properties according to Infonet-Biovision organization. They provides agricultural database with scientific and practical validated information and knowledge.

Garlic. The commercial pesticides are harmful to human and animals but garlic is preferred in organic farming because it is reportedly effective against a wide range of disease-causing pathogens and insects at different stages in their life cycle.

 In case a farmer is growing garlic for pest control, it is good for him or her to avoid using large amounts of fertilizer because much fertilizer can reduce the concentration of the effective substances in the garlic.

Antimalarial drugs could support existing cancer treatments in two-pronged attack.

Antimalarial drugs could support existing cancer treatments in two-pronged attack. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could make cancer treatments more effective.Antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could find another use as cancer treatments, according to a new clinical study published in ecancermedicalscience. Researchers from the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) project, an international collaboration between the Anticancer Fund, Belgium, and USA-based GlobalCures, say there is evidence to include these drugs in further clinical investigations. The authors are particularly excited about the potential for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as the evidence suggests they make tumour cells more sensitive to cancer treatment.

FOOD PRESERVATION : HOW TO PREVENT POST HARVEST LOSSES AND ENSURE FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY.

  Nigerian entrepreneur offers solution to post harvest losses. As a vegetable farmer himself, Ikegwuonu has first-hand experience of the huge post-harvest losses incurred because of a lack of cold storage.

In Nigeria, it is estimated about 60% of smallholder farmers’ fruits and vegetables spoil due to inadequate storage and agro-processing facilities. This idea can be extended by having a mobile cooling truck,from farm to markets.

The post harvest losses can be curbed by using solar dryers   a form of preservation and also extend shelf-life of produce.

 These cold hubs can also come in handy in the meat industry. Butchers that have left over beef  use cold rooms, but introducing a solar store  will save cost and ensure the cold chain is maintained.
 

Preservation and processing is a bullet proof method to curb waste and extend shelf-life of produce.

 Thinking of investing in the agricultural sector? then think along these lines, cold hub chains, cooling trucks, vans. The profitability will  increase if this venture is mobile, trucks collecting from designated points for onward delivery to the cold box or store.

Ikegwuonu is addressing this challenge with Cold Hubs – a solar-powered walk-in cold-room solution aimed at farmers, retailers, and wholesalers.

The cold rooms are installed at major food production and consumption centers, such as markets and farms.