Zambia Agribusiness Society

Introduction The transplanting process can be a shock to rapidly growing seedlings especially when set out into the cold windy garden in the spring. This is especially true for transplants started in the greenhouse, cold frame, hotbed or home. These young seedlings can be made somewhat resistant to heat, cold temperatures, drying and whipping winds, certain types of insect injury, injury from blowing sand and soil particles and low soil moisture by a process termed “ hardening .” The term “ hardening ” refers to any treatment that results in a firming or hardening of plant tissue. Such a treatment reduces the growth rate, thickens the cuticle and waxy layers, reduces the percentage of freezable water in the plant and often results in a pink colour in stems, leaf veins and petioles. Such plants often have smaller and darker green leaves than non-hardened plants. Hardening results in an increased level of carbohydrates in the plant permitting a more rapid root development than occurs

  Crop rotation is “the practice of alternating the annual crops grown in a specific field in a planned pattern or sequence so that the crops of the same species or family are not grown repeatedly without interruption on the same field.” US National Organic Program definition. Or leaving soil in the best position it can be for continuing/next crops – that includes cover crops, rotations, green manures, catch crops etc. 6 Benefits of Crop Rotation in Agriculture 1. Preventive Pest Management: Crop rotation may limit the growth of populations of agricultural pests including insects, nematodes, and diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi through regular interruption and replacing crop host species with different plant species that do not serve as hosts. The use of specific crop and cover crop rotations may also be used to control pests through  allelopathy , an interference interaction in which a plant releases into the environment a compound that inhibits or stimulates

 Forking in carrots Introduction A disease in plants can be defined as any disturbance brought about by an agency/factor which interferes with manufacture, translocation or utilization of food, mineral nutrients and water in such a way that the affected plant changes in appearance and or yields less than a normal, healthy plant of the same variety . Causes of Plant Diseases Plant diseases are of two types viz., infectious and non-infectious . The infectious type are caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses. Nutritional deficiencies, mineral toxicities, lack or excess of soil moisture and light, low or too high temperatures, soil acidity or alkalinity constitute the non-infectious type. Usually, a disease causes a progressive and continuous disturbance of cellular activities that eventually become manifest as symptoms. A symptom is a visible or otherwise detectable abnormality arising from disease. Disease symptoms should be closely observed, as they often give indications about

The number of farmers that do not keep farm records is shocking. Some of them complain that they are always busy and don’t have time, while others say that they know how to manage their farms without always writing things down. These are the reasons and attitudes that make us fail all the time we practice farming. You will even find others taking all their receipts at the end of the month/year to an accountant friend to help them calculate production costs and profitability. The problem with this picture is that the accountant will not know what has really been going on at your farm thus causing a lot of irregularities with your financials. Keeping farm records is an important activity in farming. The records have to be accurate and up to date reflecting on all activities that occur on the farm. Knowledge acquired from keeping good farm records is priceless. Farmers should always have their farm records ready before they do any financial analysis, financial decision or budgeting. Impor

It is spring and that means it is time for farmers to get out into the fields and start planting. Farmers have to dodge rainstorms and when skies are clear they might work through the night to get seeds into the ground. Iowa has amazingly rich and robust soil for those seeds to germinate in. That rich, black topsoil does need some preparation for the ideal growth of seeds. But, have you ever wondered why farmers plow their fields before they plant? Seeds are typically only planted an inch below the soil surface. Farmers want to give those seeds the best chance of germinating and growing. That means mechanically preparing seed beds by breaking the ground. Soil can become dense and compact. Plowing also makes it easier to plant. Plowing breaks up the blocky structure of the soil which can aid in drainage and root growth. Plowing fields can also turn organic matter into soil to increase decomposition and add nutrients from the organic matter to the soil. Many farmers spread manure fro