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Information on this subject area was requested by DCFRN participants in Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, and Tanzania.
Presenter: George Atkins
Special note
Before using the information in this item, please read the note at the end concerning related DCFRN items.
Suggested introduction
We at this radio station are part of a worldwide information network that gathers farming information from developing countries all over the world. It’s the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, sponsored by Massey Ferguson and the University of Guelph, and financially supported by the Canadian International Development Agency and by many interested Canadians.
Through this Network, we bring you information on ways to increase food supplies for your family, or to sell—ways that other farmers have used successfully.
Today’s topic is crop protection. Here’s George Atkins.
Well, if you don’t have a fence to protect your crops, Stanislas Ugochukwu Dike in Nigeria has an idea that may help. He says to make a simple mixture that you can apply to your plants.
“All you have to do is to collect fresh goat or sheep droppings (manure). Put the droppings into a container. Then add water to it and allow the mixture of droppings and water to ferment (decay) for four or five days.
You now have a mixture that will protect your plants from goats, sheep and other animals. But how do you use it? Stanislas says to:
“Prepare a small-sized broom or whisk. Dip it into the fermented manure mixture and stir it up. Then use the broom to splash the mixture onto your garden crops. The smell of the manure mixture on the plants will prevent domestic animals from feeding on them.”
Just a word of caution, though—don’t let the mixture get onto parts of the plant that you or others will eat. It could make people sick unless the produce is cooked or peeled.
J.C. Adokor in Ghana also recommends this method. He says that if you “ferment some goat manure in water and sprinkle it on the leaves of the plants in the garden, goats will not touch a leaf.”
A.S. Harfe-Harlolo, also in Ghana, says you can use this method to protect your young trees, although he prepares the mixture in a slightly different way. He says to take the goat droppings and mash them up with a little water to make a paste. Smear the paste on the tree and its leaves, and this will stop the goats from eating the young tree.
You can use other kinds of manure too—manure from water buffalo (carabao) or cattle—or even poultry manure. Mix it with water and brush it onto the parts of the tree that the animals like to eat. Brush it lightly over the buds and leaves, and do it again if it gets washed off by heavy rains.
Serving Agriculture, the Basic Industry, this is George Atkins.
Notes
1. There are other DCFRN items related to protecting plants against domestic animals:
Cassava fences for livestock and poultry – DCFRN Package 13, Item 5.
Animals with neck yokes don’t go through fences – DCFRN Package 13, Item 10.
Growing vegetables in raised platform gardens – DCFRN Package 14, Item 10.
2. Using manure to prevent pests from damaging shrub seedlings was mentioned in:
Planting trees, part 5: Care of trees after transplanting – DCFRN Package 10, Topo 6.)
Information sources
1. DCFRN participant Stanislas Ugochukwu Dike, Nigeria.
2. DCFRN participant J.C. Adokor, Ghana.
3. DCFRN participant A.S. Harfe-Harlolo, Ghana.
4. DCFRN participant Samuel O. Akpokighe, Nigeria.