Hey nairalanders, am going into farming and I need all possible help and advice.

Will do my best to make this thread very interactive so that others can be encouraged.

I reside in ph but will be siting the farm in Enugu state were I have lands. Am starting out with plantain farming, will add snail and then move to livestock by his grace.




The grass cutting has been concluded as I was told, I will be at the farm today to measure the land and know what next line of action to take.

Was already getting help from some nairalanders who are into farming before nairaland was blacked out.


I will be buying my suckers from IITA ,but any advice on were to get seedlings in the east to reduce cost is welcomed.


Will bring pics as i travel on the ph-Enugu express road this morning till I get to farm in Nkanu east (Nara unateze)



Please note that am a learner as I have never owned a farm of my own before

Am with you

Nice one sir. We will be looking forward to seeing ur Achievement as a Farmer. God bless sir

Good move it seems we together in spirit, just acquired a land for plantain farming too with the intention of adding snail just as u. i hope to learn a lot here too

Ok, am in Nara unateze (my village in Enugu state) now, the grasses have been cut but the guys that did the job burnt the bush against instruction I gave as directed by the IITA guys.


Hope they will not be disobeying instructions like this, learnt one of them left cigarette burning after work and that was how the grasses got burnt.


The land is exactly 10plots of 100 by 100, network is poor here so am unable to attach pics for now. I will re measure it tomorrow, I need to be double sure before placing orders for the suckers next week

God help you. You have my support.

Regards,

The Unbeatable.

The farm land pix is attached. Was hoping to live those trees for the purpose of wind control. I learnt wind is one of the dangers of plantain farming as it could knock down all the trees even before they start bearing fruits and worse off when they start bearing due to the weight of the bunch.

Am a learner, some of what am told already maybe true or false, but I will follow through

File size seems to big

I may have to trim the trees or cut them as the seem too low and may disturb the plantains.

Pls let those who know share their knowledge

Keep it up! I'm learning. Pls hw much did the land cost?

FarmTech: Keep it up! I'm learning. Pls hw much did the land cost?

i didnt buy, my old boy gave me the land.

following

aguiyi:


i didnt buy, my old boy gave me the land.

Very lucky.

You need the trees for wind break. also u may not need fertilizer since the ash will supply the required nutrient and since it is a virgin land.
for the breaking it is not always wind it could be caused by nematodes lodging in soils. appropriate spacing is 3m by 3m using anything less will increase competition

Interesting. Following.........
@Farmtech ur thread go wit d nl hacking?

...keenly following...if I may ask,do u've prior training on this!!

Nwogbe: Interesting. Following.........
@Farmtech ur thread go wit d nl hacking?

..
Nna ehh, just like that oh. I could only recover 2 pages from Google cache. What a pity. But i still have some of my replies in my computer.

baba11: ...keenly following...if I may ask,do u've prior training on this!!

No I don't but I have read so many journals and books on it

nurey: You need the trees for wind break. also u may not need fertilizer since the ash will supply the required nutrient and since it is a virgin land.
for the breaking it is not always wind it could be caused by nematodes lodging in soils. appropriate spacing is 3m by 3m using anything less will increase competition

Very true but the new book I read showed that I can plant two suckers in every spot were I would have planted one bringing the suckers on an hectare of land to be 3200 instead of 1600.

This Will reduce bunch size per sucker but will maximize land, labour and every input as you will be using the time and input for one to do two hectares.

So instead of selling 1400 plantain bunches(assuming that 400 will not produce) you will sell 2800 bunches probably at 1300 naira each

aguiyi:

No I don't but I have read so many journals and books on it

ok

Hi, I'm very happy for what you are doing, Its a profitable business but i feel i should let you know that planting 3200 suckers per hectare is not going to be economically viable for you, The first year will be ok but subsequent yield is going to be too small for you that it will significantly affect the weight of the affected plantain yield because they will be competing for soil nutrient and thus your market price will be affected. I'm sure you know plantain is sold by grades,

targus: Hi, I'm very happy for what you are doing, Its a profitable business but i feel i should let you know that planting 3200 suckers per hectare is not going to be economically viable for you, The first year will be ok but subsequent yield is going to be too small for you that it will significantly affect the weight of the affected plantain yield because they will be competing for soil nutrient and thus your market price will be affected. I'm sure you know plantain is sold by grades,

Yes but the idea is to harvest everything and replant

http://www.ipni.net/publication/bci.nsf/0/87A8F8AB2089F7F585257BBA006D6119/$FILE/Better%20Crops%20International%202000-1%20p12.pdf

I got others too on this same issue of plant density and they were saying the same thing

ok people,

ok people,

i have gotten suckers from isiokpo in ikwere local govt area in port harcourt here. the owner of the farm also has fish pond and snail farm but no more snails there . i however saw how he built the snail pen using blocks and and wires.

i will build mine like that too.

as i type this, the guys uprooting the suckers from his farm are working, i am the one paying them. i thought that would have been the responsibility of the man am buying them from but that is not so.

it turned out that the man knows my dad so he gave me the suckers for 70 instead of the 120 bucks other charged for each while i paid 10 each to the labourers for up rooting.

they are already saying their work stops at uprooting , that i will pay separately for loading it into the trucks. will negotiate that later.

the truck driver charged 40k.

i finally settled for 1000 suckers instead of the quantity i earlier planned to buy based on advice from the man and guys here.

he actually said that i may have additional 1000 in less than 1 year time to transplant and grow my farm and that it will enable me learn the process and have better experience

will share pix after work when i get there, i will be in Enugu tomorrow, to peg and dig the holes for planting

please were can i get good quality snails for my farm from. and whats is the average price for one, i will need between 300 - 500

the snail pen will be constructed soon.

pics will also be posted here

Keep it up. To buy snail, find a farm closer to u and buy it. The ones in market are likely to carry disease.

Planting will start right away

FarmTech: Keep it up. To buy snail, find a farm closer to u and buy it. The ones in market are likely to carry disease.

I don't know of any farm close to me

Pics

Pic

welldone .nice work

Planting has started, made ridges on the land, the plantain are in between the ridges while cassava is on the ridges