Zambia Agribusiness Society

General information Compost is a product resulting from the controlled biological decomposition of chicken manure with litter. It has a nutrient value in the range of 1% nitrogen, 3% phosphorus, 1.5% potassium plus a large number of micronutrients including boron, iron, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, etc. Uses/ Benefits ●       As seedbed growing medium to increase growth of plants. ●       Improve soil texture, water retention, soil aeration and buffer the soil pH. ●       Replenish soil organic matter making the soil more naturally productive. ●       Necessary for placing in tree planting holes e.g. banana, citrus, ornamental plants etc. Application Guidelines Compost must be incorporated in the top 5cm soil at application time, except for lawn application. Vegetables ●       Apply ½ kg compost per meter square at planting. ●       One handful compost (100gms) per meter square at 30 days and at 60 days. Lawns Apply ½ kg compost per meter square at any time of the year to improve the

Testing your soil pH is crucial if you want to avoid losses. Your soil pH is key to understanding if essential nutrients will be available to the roots of your plants. Plants can only access these nutrients if the soil pH is within a certain range. If it isn’t, your crops will never make it no matter how much fertilizer you add. Let’s go back to school for those that don’t know what pH is. What exactly is Soil pH? pH is short for “potentia hydrogenii” – the power of hydrogen. It is a measure of the number of hydrogen ions present in a substance. For a farmer, pH is a measure of how alkaline (sweet) or acidic (sour) something is. In this case, you should use it to test our soil. However, the pH of the water you use or the pH of rain water can also affect the quality of your soil. The pH measurement is a logarithmic scale that goes from 1 to 14 with a measurement less than 7 being acidic, 7 neutral, and a measurement higher than 7 alkaline. Because it is a logarithmic scale, each value

There is a lot of conjecture out there about what is a mulch and how thick should it be? And a whole range of other questions that I will endeavour to answer or set straight in this article. This is of course in my opinion and based on my own experience of over 40 years of growing my own food and fruit on urban blocks of land. Pebbles/Stones : Not mulch heats up during day and radiates warmth into soil sending composting insects deep. Lucerne : Not mulch too open and is full of nitrogen and really is meant as a green manure so good in the compost or turned into the ground. Pea Straw : Not mulch to open just like Lucerne makes a great green manure. Let’s look at what are mulches? Bark/Wood Chips : Great for native gardens, but not so good for edibles. It can leech Nitrogen out of the soil and deposit sap’s and resins which aren’t good for edibles. Sugarcane : This is an adequate mulch for edibles it takes about 12 months to break down. Bamboo Mulch : Like sugar cane also good for edible

It is easy to understate the importance of soil. It seems benign. It seems inert. But the ground beneath our feet is literally teaming with life – most of it too small for us to see or register as important. But all of it is important and vital to our human life systems. Soil provides the anchor to plant roots. It holds water and nutrients. It is home to micro-organisms and so much more. When we think of soil, we often think of the physical properties of the soil. How big are the particle sizes? Sand is the biggest, silt is a medium size, and clay is the smallest. We think about the water holding capacity. Clay soils have a lot more surface area of the individual particles and so therefore can hold a lot more water than sandy soils. We think of availability of nutrients and soil structure as indicators of healthy soil. But it is these last two that offer a huge level of complexity that we rarely think about. Nutrient availability Whenever a soil is lacking in available nutrient f

Many a times farmers ask the question, what amount of fertilizer should I put to get the maximum yield of maize, soya or wheat? This is a brilliant question that a business minded Farmer should ask because farming is a business with input and output. When output outweighs input then its profit and vice versa it’s a loss. Inputs are what we put into the soil and this includes fertilizer, seed, chemicals, water, labour and management. In this article we will start looking at fertiliser input and the question “How much fertiliser should one put per unit area at any given time to a particular crop to realise maximum crop yields?” Before answering this question lets remind farmers that each crop has a specific nutrient requirement hence forth a special fertilizer. With this in mind we have variety of fertilizers to address these requirements. Some examples of specific Fertiliser for some crops are indicated in the table below. We commonly talk about fertilizer in terms of Nitrogen, Phosphor

I want to talk about dirt, it’s often the most overlooked and underappreciated part of gardening. People like to just walk all over it like it doesn’t even exist. Its dirt, yeah trying to make that sound exciting is harder than I thought. We need good soil to grow good plants, and if you can get it balanced and enriched just right, the use of chemical fertilizers isn’t necessary! One of the biggest things I have against “lawns” and “yards” is that they are a status symbol from back in the day when the wealthy families would show off their wealth by having huge plots of land they didn’t need to use. They could have acres of land that they didn’t need to till or toil over because they could buy everything they need. Yes the space is wonderful! Me on the other hand, I would much rather use the space for medicine and food then have it just look pretty. Now don’t get me wrong, pretty can be useful, like the rose. It’s medicinal and beautiful! Instead of spending our time getting use

Save those eggshells! From a free calcium supplement for your chickens to slug control in the garden, they're valuable in so many different ways around the home. I normally just crush up all our eggshells and feed them free-choice to our chickens as an economical way to provide them the extra calcium they need to lay eggs with nice hard shells. But there are so many other practical uses for eggshells. 10 Practical Uses for Eggshells You might think eggshells are a waste. Read on to know how to use eggshells in 10 practical ways: 1. Eggshells as supplemental calcium source for your chickens Instead of buying commercial oyster shell, crush up all your eggshells and feed them free-choice to your chickens as an economical way to provide them the extra calcium they need to lay eggs with nice hard shells. 2. Vegetable or flower seed starter cups Eggshell halves make nice cups to start seeds in. You can just plant the whole thing in the ground when you’re ready to put them

Hello fellow farmers! Don't waste your money when testing soil pH . Someone comes to your farm, collect a soil sample and go away without examining whether your farm has acidic, alkaline or neutral soil. Let me share with you on how to test soil pH in order to obtain good produce in your farm. Areas to Avoid During Soil Test 1.     Avoid taking soil sample along the boundary take at middle of your farm. 2.     Avoid areas where there is manure. 3.     Avoid areas where there are trees. 4.     Avoid swampy areas. Methods Used to Collect Soil Sample 1.     Traverse method. 2.     Zigzag method. How to Test Soil pH Material Required 1.     Soil 2.     Water 3.     Vinegar 4.     Baking soda Take soil from different areas of your garden. Put 2 spoonful into separated container. Add half cup of vinegar. Result: If it fizzes you have alkaline soil with pH of 7 - 8. Best Crop at Alkaline Soil Cabbage, spinach, beans, leek, sunflower, watermelon etc.

The agriculture sector is one of the major contributors to the country’s economy. Horticulture, for instance, generates more than $1 billion annually. The demand for food is high not only locally but also internationally. However, food production is determined by the soil health. The primary indicator of soil health is soil pH. The yields from the farm and what you can grow can be predicted by the soil pH. It is therefore important to manage the soil pH for your crop. Factors Affecting Soil pH Most crops perform well when the pH levels are neutral, ranging between 6 to 7.5. Low pH can inhibit the nitrogen cycle. Some inherent factors affecting soil pH include  soil texture ,  mineral content , and  climate . Minerals in the parent material determine the pH of newly formed soils. When the rainfall amounts are high, the soil pH decreasing as a result of acidification caused by leaching. In dry environments, the soil pH is either alkaline or neutral since weathering and leaching are l

Manure is decomposed organic matter from both plants and animals. It contributes to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients such as nitrogen. ●       Manure contains valuable plant nutrients for crop production e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. ●       It provides valuable macro and micronutrients like sulphur and boron to the soil. ●   Manure supplies organic matter to improve soil tilth, improves infiltration of water and retention of nutrients, and promotes growth of beneficial organisms. Sources of Animal Manure Sources of animal manure include cattle, goats, poultry, sheep, pigs, etc. In general, manure from pigs and poultry is of better quality and should be applied in smaller amounts (e.g. one handful per hole). The amount of usable manure that can be obtained from cattle depends on factors like: ●       The amount of feed. ●       The method of feeding (pen rearing, kraaling the animals at night, or free range) and ●       The