You are looking at scripts about Crop production
Mexican Sunflowers Provide Support for Beans
Content: Sunflowers can provide support for bean plants. They also protect the soil and add nutrients and organic matter as they decompose. Julio Cesar is a farmer in the Department of San Marcos, Guatemala. One of his main crops is beans. Julio uses a local plant, the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia), to protect the beans…
Jenu Kuruba Returns to the Land
Content: Jenu Kuruba and his wife, Javaramma, have turned half a hectare of sloping, eroded dryland in southern India into a productive farm. Digging and watering entirely by hand and using no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, they grow fruit trees, fuelwood and timber trees, vegetables, and cereal crops. They used to earn their living as…
Grow Oil Palm Mushrooms the Ghanaian Way
Tropical farmers in many parts of the world are learning about the benefits of growing mushrooms. Mushrooms do not take up much space, they taste good, and they are a good source of protein. Here is a way to grow one type of mushroom: Oil palm mushrooms, also known as paddy straw mushrooms (Volvariella volvacium)…
Santa Lucia Co-operative Gardens
A few years ago, a group of women in the village of Santa Lucia thought of a way to solve a problem that had them all worried. They were concerned that their children were not eating well. Santa Lucia is in a rugged, hilly area in Nicaragua, in Central America. Most of the people who…
Raise Your Own Plants for Green Manure Crops
Annual plants for green manure crops are easy to grow from seed. But propagating perennials (trees and shrubs that live for many years) from seed can be slow. A faster way to propagate some perennials is to use stem cuttings‑‑that is, pieces of branches cut from mature plants or trees. You can plant them in…
Traditional, Hybrid, and Improved Crops
Some of the crops you grow have probably been important in your region for generations. There are good reasons to keep on planting these traditional crops. Traditional crops are adapted to local growing conditions. A crop does well in a particular region because it has qualities that help it survive the conditions it faces there. …
General Farming Tips
Kitchen smoke preserves maize: By E. James Kalikwani; Director Variety Farmers; Jinja, Uganda When maize has dried in the field and is ready to harvest, select the healthy cobs that you want to keep. Cut off the stalks and the cobs with a sharp knife and tie them up in a bundle. Hang them near…
A Simple Fly Trap
Nearly every farmer in the world has trouble with stable flies (Stomoxys spp.) – those pesky blood-sucking flies that carry disease to cows and other livestock. Here’s an easy way to get rid of them. It comes from farmers on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. To start off, they keep their cows…
Good Soil Management Increases Harvests
Content: Take care of your soil. Use crop rotation, mulching and proper soil water management. A few simple steps can help increase crop yields. Let us think for a few minutes about how farmers should manage their soil to get better crop yields. Modern farmers Modern farmers know how to look after the soil. They…
A Visit to Walk Softly Farm
Today we are going to visit an unusually efficient farm. Harvey and Nancy Harman grow vegetables, fruit, and flowers at Walk Softly Farm. On less than one hectare they produce enough vegetables for themselves and to sell to 25 other families. They grow at least four times as many vegetables as most other farmers grow…