Making our country self-sufficient food supply

  

Date Posted: 10/1/2017 10:34:24 AM

Posted By: joseph rimiru  Membership Level: Bronze  Total Points: 59

---

Making our country self-sufficient food supply

Every day one may not miss to see or hear people complaining out high price of food commodities. Ranging from vegetable which one can grow in small gardens or commonly known as kitchen gardens.

TIME CREATION

We give a lot of excuses that we do not have time to do certain things. We are sometimes chasing things that cannot help us. Suppose one spares one hour everyday to do some simple work in our backyard, kitchen garden. Just like the old days our parents used to make sure that there is an activity going on after school and during the holidays. But in days today we do not encourage our children to play with the dirt but we emphases on home works and leisure. Let us train our kids at an early age to be responsible enough to provide the vegetables we require at home.

START SMALL

One may dream of starting very big projects to start with, but one requires a lot of cash to do so. One is therefore encouraged to start small especially when one is not sure of the outcomes. Pilot project are very import and because it is from here one can implement what was learnt from the pilot projects.
If it is the kitchen garden start with what you and improve from it. One can start with kales, cabbages, spring onions, tomatoes. Then move on to fruits and finally some trees like citrus fruits, oranges and lemons.
This creates interest and one can see what should be grown in large quantities depending on the land. Propagate the idea and see it mature and feed the nation with it.

LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE

Although one may say experience will take a long time, it is better than going blindly to undertake a task. One should put

in use the things that were learnt either from oneself or from others. Sharing what one has undergone is part of the experience hence one can do things better. Like one time when planting maize if you fail to apply manure or fertilizers at the right there are some consequence, very poor yield or none at all.
Every time when one grows crops or keep livestock one should ask the question what went wrong or right so that improvement will be seen and things done well and even better.

IMPROVE ON THE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE

We all know how to grow items traditionally. One should not stop there but keep on improving all the time. Learn to intensify production as the space reduces with time. Learn to improvise and make use of what is available and maximize the production.
Use the modern farming techniques like the hydrophones, zero grazing, battery cages in poultry. Green houses. All these practices are achievable when one start small and grow big. Be ready to learn always, to focus on improvement on the farm production.

VISIT THE FARMER’S DAY AND AGRICULTURAL SHOW

Many counties have farmers days held at certain times of the year. Make use of them to see the innovations and improvements on crop and animal production. Note how the best results are obtained. Ask questions and learn as much as possible in the farmer’s day and agricultural shows. Make use of the information provided and contacts given. The best way being keeping contact with the agro vets outlet and press on the getting the best from them.

LEARN TO STORE FOOD STUFF CORRECTLY

Learn to store food safely and correctly as most people lose their food due to bad storage. Again if stored badly it can lead to food poisoning and other kinds of diseases caused by fungi. Learn how to store the cereals to avoid big loses. In case of vegetable learn how to dry them in the sun and have plenty of the dried stuff in store.
In case of livestock, learn how to dry grass (hay) Lucerne, how to make simple silage. All these information is available i the internet and the farmer training centre. Start as usual small and grow big.

LEARN TO RECYCLE MATERIALS

This may be taken for granted by one should recycle most the farm products. Manure from the animals should be used if fertilizers are expensive. Containers should be used for growing seedlings and even vegetables. Oil cans, broken buckets, or empty containers. These are suitable for making hanging gardens mainly used to conserve water and space.

LET EACH HOMESTEAD GROW SOME CROPS OR KEEP LIVESTOCKS TO SUSTAIN THEIR FAMILIES

If each family has some crops or livestock reared, the country can reduce the importation of these farm products. It is not simple but small effort can help in achieving food sustenance throughout the year. Keep it small but aiming to grow big all the time.

Written by J.K. RIMIRU (Bachelor of Science In Education

---

Next: Steps to make our country what the people who fought for it wanted it to be.
Previous: Tanzu za lugha katika mawasiliano