#local maize seed growers
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farmerstrend · 9 days ago
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Addressing Kenya’s Acute Maize Seed Shortage: Strategic Interventions for Sustainable Seed Production and Food Security
“Explore strategic solutions to Kenya’s acute maize seed shortage. Learn how climate-smart agriculture, local seed production, and irrigation technologies can ensure sustainable food security.” “Kenya’s maize seed crisis impacts farmers and food security. Discover key interventions to boost seed production, lower costs, and reduce dependence on imports.” “Addressing Kenya’s maize seed shortage:…
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downtoearthmarkets · 5 months ago
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The American continent is home to a rich biodiversity of plant and animal species that help fill our plates and bellies every day. In fact, around sixty percent of the world’s diet is derived from foods that originated in the Americas thousands of years ago. Many of these foods were key to the survival of ancient pre-Columbian civilizations and native tribes that thrived here long before the arrival of European explorers. Here are a few such indigenous American foods that you can find in the farmers market that are not only locally produced but have evolved on this continent over millennia.  
Pecans Pecans are the seeds, or edible nuts, of pecan trees, a species of hickory tree (Carya illinoinensis) native to the southern United States and northern Mexico. The word pecan is derived from the Algonquin word “pacane” which translates to “nuts requiring a stone to crack”. Pecans grew wild across the American South and Midwest before they were commercially cultivated in the 1880s, making them one of the country’s most recently domesticated major crops. Nutritious and plentiful, wild pecans were an essential part of both native and colonial Americans’ diet for many centuries.
Though not grown in the New York area, given their North American provenance and status as the only nut native to the U.S., pecans are often featured in a variety of farmers market baked goods from scones to pies and more. These coveted tree nuts are rich in nutrition thanks to their monounsaturated fats, high fiber and vitamin and mineral content and can play a healthy part in any well-balanced diet.
Tomatillos Also known as Mexican husk tomatoes or husk cherries, tomatillos are native to Mexico where they feature prominently in traditional cuisine. Evidence of tomatillo consumption dates back to 900 BCE in the Tehuacán Valley when they were a significant food crop for both the Aztecs and Mayans and were considered more important to these cultures than tomatoes.
Tomatillos are grown on many of our small farms and are just coming into season now. They sport a papery husk that is removed to reveal the small, tart green fruit inside. Tomatillos are a key ingredient in many Mexican salsas and sauces, and they are also used in dishes such as chile verde, pozole verde and chicken tomatillo soup.
Corn Corn, also known as maize, is perhaps the most well-known food of the Americas given its global popularity and commoditization. It is thought to be one of the world’s most ancient domesticated crops and was first propagated in southern Mexico around 9,000 years ago by indigenous peoples who often grew corn alongside beans and squash. This method of companion planting, known as the Three Sisters, was so successful that it spread as far as the northeast where it was used by the Iroquois and is still practiced by growers today.
Tender, sugar-rich varieties of corn called sweet corn or corn on the cob are grown specifically for human consumption. While a lot of American corn is grown to feed livestock and make corn syrup, plastics and fuel, the sweet corn grown by our small farms is raised with minimal inputs as part of a diverse variety of crops, resulting in farming practices that are very different from what is seen on enormous industrial-style farms. This year sweet corn has come into season a couple of weeks early and is already available at many of our farmstalls.
Amaranth Amaranth has been a staple food for indigenous peoples in the Americas for thousands of years. Dozens of amaranth species have been cultivated from Canada to Chile, where the seeds are used as a protein-rich grain and the leaves consumed for their many nutritional benefits. Amaranth leaves are a beautiful deep green that is sometimes streaked with red and purple. They can be eaten raw when young and tender but are more commonly used as a cooking green that is similar to spinach or Swiss chard.
Chocolate Chocolate is used by our baked goods vendors in a variety of their artisanal treats including breakfast pastries, cookies, brownies, cakes and other goodies. The cacao tree, the plant from which chocolate is made, originated in the Amazon basin of South America around 7,500 years ago, and eventually spread north to Central America and Southern Mexico. Chocolate's origins can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica when the Olmec people began using cacao seeds to make warm drinks around 1800 BCE.
While we relish the bounty of the summer season, it’s interesting to consider just how much of our weekly, locally produced farmers market haul has its roots deep in the history of the American continent. The origin of these diverse foods and how they’ve sustained humankind throughout millennia always offers some good food for thought.
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oaresearchpaper · 6 months ago
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Low-Cost Cultivation Protocol for Ganoderma lucidum
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Abstract
Ganoderma lucidum commonly known as lingzhi mushroom, or reishi mushroom in some countries, is an edible mushroom known for its medicinal value. This study evaluated the optimum culture media, grain spawn and substrate formulation for the cultivation of G. lucidum. The use of different low-cost culture media, grains and substrate formulations in the preparation of pure cultures, grain spawn bags and fruiting bags of G. lucidum were tested. The largest mycelial diameter was observed in Potato Sucrose Agar (93.45mm) which was significantly higher among all the treatments used. It has very thick mycelial density. Cracked corn as spawning material had the shortest incubation period of 14 days, which showed significant difference compared to sorghum seeds and barley grains. The use of cracked corn also incurred the lowest cost and highest return of investment in grain spawn bag production. For fruiting bag production, substrate combination of 50% sawdust and 30% rice straw supplemented with 20% rice bran was the best formulation for fruiting bag production of G. lucidum which had the highest yield with a mean value of 91.30g and biological efficiency of 20.29%.
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Introduction
Mushrooms are considered ultimate healthy food and dietary supplements. They contain proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, saturated fatty acids, phenolic compounds, tocopherols, ascorbic acid and carotenoids (Ho et al., 2020). Thus, mushrooms can be used directly in the diet and promote health, taking advantage of both the additive and synergistic effects of all bioactive compounds present in it (Reis et al., 2011).
The cultivation of edible mushrooms could become a way to augment farm income while making use of crop-based residues. The growth of a variety of mushrooms requires different type of substrates and availability of different type of materials. Substrates such as logs, wood sawdust, rice straw and hull, banana leaves, maize stalk, and various grasses can all support mushroom growth (Philippoussis, 2009). In some parts of the Philippines, these substrates may not be available or are available at relatively high prices. Thus, mushroom growers are continuously searching for alternative substrates that may be more readily available or cost effective, or that may provide higher yield and better mushroom quality (Royse D et al., 2004).
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Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst is a tropical, edible mushroom that is commonly known as “Reishi” in Japanese and “Lingzhi” in Chinese (Yang and Liau, 1998; Wagner et al., 2003). World-wide, Lingzhi occupies a major source of medicine that has been used for more than 2000 years (Azizi et al., 2012). Commercial G. lucidum products are available in various forms, such as powders, dietary supplements, and tea which are obtained from different parts of the mushroom, including mycelia, spores, and fruiting body (Wachtel-Galor et al., 2011). To meet the gradually increasing demand for G. lucidum as a natural medicine, commercial cultivation of this mushroom has been initiated worldwide, especially in the tropical Asian countries (Chang and Buswell, 2008). As different members of the Ganoderma genus seek different conditions for growth and cultivation, and the traditional cultivation technique takes several months for fruiting body development, artificial cultivation of G. lucidum has been implemented using the available substrates such as grain, sawdust, wood logs and cork residues (Boh et al., 2007). Several substrates have been investigated worldwide for the cultivation of G. lucidum (Tiwari et al., 2004).
With the need to cultivate G. lucidum using lowcost inputs and locally available materials, this project envisioned to determine the best culture media, grain and substrate in terms of biological and cost efficiency. Discovering the best culture media, grain and substrate for G. lucidum may lead to the development of mushroom production technologies that may increase yield, and in effect further increase farmers’ income.
Source : Low-Cost Cultivation Protocol for Ganoderma lucidum | InformativeBD
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botanyshitposts · 6 years ago
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whats the deal with proven winners?
okay. so. this is actually how i got into botany in the first place; i got an unpaid internship at a greenhouse in high school and realized, very quickly, that we live in a jurassic park hellscape where big companies breed plants solely for their looks and performance, and i found that so fucking weird that i couldnt get enough of it and fell down the rabbit hole. i don’t find them bad per say; i find them weird and how they manage their product in terms of policing their retailers is very sketchy to me, but they’re not like, monstanto-level off the shits (yet). with mother’s day next weekend we’re coming up on one of the biggest greenhouse/ornamental plant industry sales days of the year, next to valentines’ day (which favors the rose industry especially), so this is an exceptionally convenient time to talk about this. 
proven winners is one of the biggest ornamental plant companies in the united states, possibly the world. you might know them from their patented white flower pots. they’re centered in california (as, actually, a lot of these large flower producers are) and they manage a HUUUUUUGEEE network of giant industrial flower greenhouses. 
like, you have to understand, all garden retailers have to buy their shit from somewhere, and although the centers and local greenhouses selling proven winners stuff are often small and independent (unless ur talking like...flowerama or something), a large portion of the plants themselves, like many things in capitalism, form an industry of their own dominated by a handful of oligarch corporations, of which proven winners is one. small retailers order bulk products from these companies, should it be through full-color paper catalogs (which exist, btw, and are wild in and of themselves to look at; i actually have a few back home that i keep around solely bc they’re incredibly fascinating in a slightly offputting jurassic park kind of way), online, or through a sales representative for their region. 
it depends on what they’re ordering, but they can buy seeds, plugs (the black trays of like....tiny plants you buy at garden centers to put in planters? the ones that come in, like, six packs? those are called ‘plugs’), and in the case of perennials, woody plants of various ages, among other things. these plants are bred, marketed, and sold on a goddamn industrial scale. it’s wild. 
now....this is where it gets absolutely fascinating to me. this isn’t just proven winners, but proven winners is one of the top contenders of this. some highlights of how plants are actually marketed on an industrial scale: 
-plants come out in collections. like, you have horticulturalist designer people who put their names on some stuff and they all go out as like, The New Hot Thing(tm). 
-they always promote their top selling stuff, and the plants that won awards, and like, the most popular flower arrangements and stuff. this in and of itself, again, isn’t like.....bad, it just feels weird how plants are marketed as objects rather than living things, you know?
-these plants are 100% bred and optimized for their commercial value and how they look. see the above point about how it feels like they’re treating them as objects. 
-every year, there are new plants, which are put at the front of the catalogue and like, show them off as the Hit New Products. these are all part of the year’s collective collection, so like, proven winners has their 2019 collection all ready on their site in a special little tab: 
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FUN INDUSTRY SIDE STORY: looks like they have some new orange petunias this year, which reminds me fondly of the 2017 purge ordered by the USDA of a ton of illegally GMO orange petunias....
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you see, orange petunias don’t exist naturally, so what companies do is either 1. systematically breed orange into them, which can take years, or 2. take red petunias and just put in some coding for yellow from the maize genome, which makes them orange. usually, you have to submit all this paperwork and go through a ton of government red tape to sell GMOs, including required trials conducted by the federal government, but what some of these large ornamental seed companies were doing was just....not telling the government and just kind of...pretending that they bred them. so in 2017, a netherlands team noticed that these were like....kind of Suspicious(tm), and started doing some tests....and accidentally uncovered like, this huge international orange petunia scandal across all these companies, over 30 varieties of illegal petunia being sold internationally. they had to alert the actual EU, which then alerted the USDA, who then gave an actual government order for these large companies to literally burn, bury, or otherwise destroy all their industrial stock of the proven illegal GMO orange petunias. 
small retailers who had bought them assuming that they were legal were allowed to keep and continue selling what they bought, but the actual producers were ordered to just fucking. violently destroy everything. the USDA informed these companies that they could sell them again, but only if they were put through the proper government channels and received proper certification. i checked the old recall list and didn’t see these, so i’m assuming they’re like...Legit, but. im 👀 somebody test these lol
AAANNNNYYway that aside, if you would like to see the Proven Winners 2019 Flower Collection Showcase(tm), they have a bunch of......weird kind of ads on their youtube channel showing artsy pics of their new shit. to this day i can’t pin down exactly what about them makes me feel slightly uncomfortable, but you really do get a sense that they’re selling an object to preform, which i guess is the point, but...idk, it’s just a very different view of plants, i think, then i personally have. very sci-fi-y, if you will. all their ads are like this; these video are essentially very similar to what you get from their print sales booklets, but in video form.
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see, last but not least, my biggest beef with proven winners is the weird way they handle their company. 
you get inspected by the plant police.
im not kidding. for those not very familiar with plant reproduction, you can grow vegetative clones of plants through a process called taking cuttings, where you cut off a part of the plant and put it in a new pot under the right conditions, and it develops a root system and becomes a genetic clone to the parent. obviously, anyone can do this with a lot of the proven winners plants, especially because PW plants, as i’ve noticed, tend to be bred to be more vigorous. 
proven winners wants to ensure that there’s no Illegal Plant Downloads taking place, so they literally like....send people out to these small retailers and ask to see their stock to make sure that all the plants are going in the Patented Proven Winners White Pots(tm) with the Patented Proven Winners Information Tags(tm). you MUST plant proven winners stuff in the pots they send you, with the instructions they send you, and they will check you for this. the first time my internship mentor ordered from them, they accidentally planted the plugs in generic brown pots instead of the white ones, and the weird proven winners police rolled in unannounced for an inspection and told them that the next time it happened they wouldn’t sell to them anymore. what they’re worried about happening is that the growers will order a small amount and then just make a bunch of cuttings without paying them, and it’s just......weird. like i get why they do it but that’s always struck me as really, really shady lmao
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annieboltonworld · 4 years ago
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Juniper Publishers- Open Access Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources
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Seed Yield Performance of Different Maize (Zea mays l.) Genotypes under Agro Climatic Conditions of Haripur
Authored by Muneeb khan
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the "Seed yield performance of different maize (Zea mays L.) genotypesunder agro climatic conditions of Haripur”. The experiment was sown on 17th May, 2015, at Research Farm of the University of Haripur Four different varieties of maize (PS-1, PS-2, PS-3 and Iqbal check) were tested in the experiment. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. The data recorded on various parameters were analyzed using computer software Statistics 8.1. For mean separation LSD test was used. The analyzed data revealed significant differences for various parameters studied. Mean values of the data indicated that PS-1 and PS-2 produced tallest plants (212.1 and 201.7 cm), higher number of rows ear-1 (15.6 and 14.8), Maximum number of grains ear-1 (531.3 and 518.7) and greater thousand grains weight (330 and 327 g), respectively.
While genotype PS-1 had maximum ear height (88.7 cm) and higher moisture contents (31.7%) in the grain. Genotypes PS-1 and PS-2 produced higher but at par grain yield of 5495 and 5261 kg ha-1, biological yield (12679 and 12189 kg ha-1) and higher harvest index of 43.3 and 43.2%, respectively. From the data obtained in this study, it can be concluded that genotypes PS-1 and PS-2 performed better as compared to genotypes PS-3 and Iqbal (check). Therefore, the above experiment may be recommended for further evaluation/testing across the Haripur distract to be released as commercial genotypes/varieties for Hazara region in general and Haripur in particular.
Keywords: Maize genotypes; Seed yield; University of Haripur; Pakistan
Introduction
Maize (Zea mays L.) is the second most important crop after wheat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) of Pakistan but yield per unit area is very low [1]. Maize (Zea mays L) is a multipurpose crop that provides food for human, feed for animals especially poultry and livestock. It is a rich source of raw material for the industries where it is being extensively used for the preparation of cornstarch, dextrose, corn syrup and corn flakes [2]. Botanically, maize belongs to the grass family (poaceae/gramineae) genus Zea. Maize is tall, annual plant with an extensive fibrous root system. It is cross pollinating species, with the female (ear) and male (tassel) flower in separate places on the plant. The grains develop in ears or cobs, often on each silk; each ear has about 300 to 1,000 kernels, weighing between 190 and 300 g per 1,000 kernels, in a variable number of rows (12 to 18). Maize is a diploid species with a chromosome number of 2n= 2x= 20, and it has a moderate genome size of about 2400 Mb [3].
Maize is a tropical grass, well adapted to many climates and hence has wide-ranging maturities from 70 days to 210 days. Maize (Zea mays L.) is considered most important cereal crop after wheat and rice in the world. Maize grain yield in Pakistan (3427 kg ha'1) is very low as compared to advanced countries of the world like Italy (9478 kg ha_1), USA (7974 kg ha’1) and China (4481 kg ha’1) [4]. Maize is grown extensively in temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions of the world for both grain and fodder. In Pakistan, average yield of maize is very low due to inadequate use of fertilizers, inadequate water, sub- optimal plant density, weeds infestation, insect pest attack and poor selection of suitable varieties for a given ecology [5]. The yield obtained from maize in Pakistan is very low as compared to other countries due to many constraints. These include poor quality seed, in discriminate application of fertilizers without soil test, poor tillage methods and lack of modern technology.
It is one of the valuable crops of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where more than 50 percent maize of country is grown. It is a short duration, quick growing crop and has the potential to produce high quantity grains per unit area [6]. It is grown for dual-purpose, grain as well as fodder in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions of the world. Maize is used for multiple purposes like bread making, corn flakes, corn syrup, corn starch, textile, paper making and in food industries. Corn oil is suitable for human consumption due to the presence of unsaturated fatty acids. Maize is the leading cereal crop, which covers 4.8% area and 3.5% of the value of agricultural output. Maize is an important source of edible oil. Starch is the main product of maize from which dextrin, liquid glucose, solid glucose, powder glucose and crystalline dextrose are prepared [7,8]. Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are the main maize growing provinces of Pakistan. Peshawar, Malakand, Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan are the major maize growing districts in KP. Maize is annually grown on an area of 1139.40 thousand hectares with total production of 4997.10 thousand tones and average yield of 4268 kg ha-1 in Pakistan [9]. A serious problem always remained between varieties and environment for successful crop stand while recommending a variety for particular location [10].
Maize being the highest yielding cereal crop in the world is of significant importance for countries like Pakistan, where rapidly increasing population has already out stripped the available food supplies. It is planted on an estimated area of 0.9 million hectare with an annual production of 1.3 million tons. The bulk (97%) of the total production come from two major provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, accounting for 57% of the total area and 68% of total production. Punjab contributes 38% acreage with 30% of total maize grain production. Very little maize 2-3% is produced in the province of Sindh and Baluchistan [11]. The optimum temperature for maize growth and development is 18 to 32°C, with temperatures of 35°C and above considered inhibitory. The optimum soil temperatures for germination and early seedling growth are 12°C or greater, and at tasseling 21 to 30°C is ideal. Genetic variability and environmental interaction play an important role in successful maize production [12]. Therefore, it is important to have the knowledge about the yield testing locations for successful stand of crop in different production environments [13]. Various synthetic or local maize varieties are in practice since many years. The introduction of hybrid proved for high production but the planting pattern and inputs application is a question to be resolved on agro-ecological basis in the country as well as provincial levels. The yield of maize however, varies from variety to variety, location to location and also depends on the availability of essential factors such as soil nutrient status, application rates and timing, and combinations [14].
The seed of improved variety and fertilizer are the main factors in enhancing the output of maize [15]. A good variety having a high yield potential is a key towards improving maize yield [16]. Yield is the primary objective in breeding maize hybrids. Hybrids generally have higher yield potential than open pollinated varieties. Hybrids maize has long ears, more grain rows per ear and greater grain yield than the open pollinated cultivars [17]. In Pakistan, maize is the staple food for a large population especially in hilly area. This crop is capable of producing the largest quantity of grain per unit area [6] and can be grown twice in a year i.e., during spring and summer seasons. Maize yield is gradually increasing from last decade in Pakistan and particularly in the Punjab province. The increase in per hectors yield of maize is mainly due to adoption of hybrid seed by progressive growers during spring season as a whole and some shift in autumn season by small farmer also. The availability of quality seed is yet not more than 50% of the total area planted in the province, while it availability on Pakistan basis is around 34%. The hybrid seed so far available is mostly imported and marketed by some multinational companies. The price of commercial hybrids is not affordable by the farming community. Maize production is not optimal in most parts of the country on account of cultivating low yielding open pollinated varieties (OPVs), high weed infestation.
Objectives
Keeping this in view, the present study was conducted with an objective to investigate "Seed yield performance of maize genotypes under the agro climatic conditions of Haripur;
a) To finding out high seed yielding maize genotype (s).
b) To finding out most suitable/adopted maize genotype (s).
Materials and Methods
A field experiment entitled "Seed yield Performance of maize genotypes under the agro climatic conditions of Haripur" was conducted at Research Farm of the University of Haripur during summer, 2015. The experiment crop was sown on 17th May, 2015. Four different genotypes of maize namely; PS-1, PS- 2, PS-3 and Iqbal (check) were tested in the experiment. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. The plot size was 3m x 3m with 4 rows of maize 3m long and 75 cm apart. The plant to plant distance was maintained 25cm, which was ensured by thinning. A basal dose of N and P was applied at the rate of 150 kg and 90 kg ha-1, respectively. All the phosphorus was applied at the time of seed bed preparation, whereas nitrogen was applied in two equal splits i.e., one each at sowing and second at V8 (8 leaf) stage. All other agronomic practices like irrigation, hoeing, weeding, inter culturing etc. were carried out similar for all plots to exploit full potential of the tested genotypes.
Details of the factor.
Maize Genotypes
a. Check (Iqbal)
b. PS-3
c. PS-2
d. PS-1
Following parameters were studied in the experiment
a) Plant height (cm)
b) Ear plant-1
c) Grain rows ear-1
d) Grains ear-1
e) Ear height (cm)
f) Thousand grains weight (g)
g) Biological yield (kg ha-1)
h) Moisture content at harvest (%)
i) Grain yield (kg ha-1)
j) Harvest index (%)
Procedure for data collection
a) Plant height (cm): Plant height for all the treatments in each replication was measured with the help of a measuring tape from the base to tassel tip of the ten randomly selected plants in two central rows and then average plant height was calculated.
b) Ear plant"1: Data on number of ear plant"1 was recorded by counting the number of ears in five randomly selected plants and were averaged.
c) Grain rows ear1: The ear harvested for grain yield was used for the determination of number of grains ear-1 by selecting five ears randomly from each plot and counting the number of rows and were averaged.
d) Grains ear-1: The ear harvested for grain yield was used for the determination of number of grains ear1 by selecting five ears randomly from each plot, dried and shelled for counting the grains ear-1.
e) Ear height (cm): Ear height was measured with the help of a measuring tape from the base to the point where ear is attached by randomly selecting 5 plant and then average plant height was calculated.
f) Thousand grains weight (g): Data regarding 1000 grains weight was recorded by counting actual number of 1000 grains from each plot at random and then was weighed with electronic balance.
g) Biological yield (kg ha-1): Biological yield was recorded by plants harvested and dried from two central rows of each plot and then weight converted into kg ha-1.
Biological yield (kg) X 1000R-R x R L x No. of Rows
h) Moisture content at harvest (%): The moisture content of the grains at harvest was measured by taking seeds from the seed lot of each plot and were tested for moisture with the use of moisture probe.
i) Grain yield (kg ha-1): Grains yield was recorded after shelling of ears of two central rows from each plot and then dried and weight was converted into kg ha-1.
Grain yield (kg) X 100R-R x R L x No.of Rows
j) Harvest index (%): Harvest index was calculated using following formula.
Economic Yield (kg ha-1) X 100
Biological yield (kg ha-1)
Results and Discussion
A. Plant height at maturity (cm): Among tested maize varieties, PS-1 produced tallest plants of 212.1 cm, which was followed by PS-2 (201.7 cm) (Table 1). Plant height was lower in both Iqbal (check) (196.3 cm) and PS-3 (197.3 cm). All maize varieties used in this study had diverse genetic background; therefore, these varieties produced varying plant height ranging from 196 to 212 cm. Plant height of PS-1 was higher due to the vigorous growth and genetic makeup of the hybrid [18]. Similar results have been reported earlier by [19]. Who reported variation in plant height of different maize varieties.
B. Ear plant-1: Statistical analysis of the data revealed insignificant differences in ear plant-1 among different maize varieties (Table 1). Mean values of the data showed that number of ear plant-1 was statistically similar in PS-1, PS-2 and PS-3 (1.20), however comparatively lower number of ear plant-1 (1.0) was observed in Iqbal (check). The ear plant-1 is a genetically controlled character and yield of less ear plant-1 is higher due to lower competition for nutrients. These results are in contrast with [20].
C. Grains rows ear-1: Perusal of the data indicated that numbers of grain rows ear-1 were significantly affected by different maize varieties (Table 1). Mean values of the data indicated that higher number of rows ear-1 (15.6) were recorded with PS-1, which was statistically similar with grains rows ear-1 of PS-2 (14.8) and lower number of grain rows ear-1 (13.9 and 13.6) were observed in PS-3 and Iqbal(check) respectively. These results were in line with [21] who reported that hybrid cultivar produced more number of grain rows ear-1.
D. Grains ear-1: Data regarding grains ear-1 is presented in (Table 1) Statistical analysis of the data indicated significant effect of all the varieties on number of grains ear-1. Mean values of the data showed that Maximum number of grains ear-1 (531.3) was found in PS-1 which was statistically at par with grains ear-1 (518.7) of PS-2, however significantly lower number of grains ear-1 (424.3 and 439.0) were produced by Iqbal (check) and PS-3 respectively [20] reported similar results that hybrid produced more grains ear-1 as compared to synthetic varieties due to difference in genetic makeup.
E. Thousand grains weight: Data in (Table 1) indicated thousand grains weight of maize varieties. Statistical analysis of the data indicated highly significant variation in thousand grains weight of different maize varieties. Mean values of the data indicated that greater thousand grains weight (330 g) was recorded with PS-2, which was statistically similar with thousand grains weight (327 g) of the PS-1. Lower thousand grains weight (265 and 270 g) was recorded in PS-3 and Iqbal (check) respectively. Thousand grains weight is an important factor directly contributing to final grain yield of crop. Greater thousand grain weight of hybrid might be due to the fact that thousand grains weight is a genetically controlled factor so thousand grains weight of different varieties was different. The same results were also reported by [20,22].
F. Ear height (cm): The data given in (Table 2) showed that maize variety PS-1 had maximum ear height of 88.7 cm. It was statistically similar with ear height of PS-2 (83.7 cm) whereas lower ear height was observed with Iqbal(check) and PS-3 The difference in ear height might be attributed to genetic diversity of tested maize varieties [18,23,24].
G. Moisture contents (%) at harvest: Moisture contents in the grain at harvest indicated significant differences among maize varieties (Table 2). Among varieties, PS-1 had higher moisture contents (31.7%) in the grain, statistically similar moisture content at harvest (30.3%) were recorded with PS-2. Lower moisture contents (26.3%) were noted in Iqbal (check). It was also noted that early maturing varieties had lower moisture contents in the grain and vice-versa [25].
H. Grain yield (kg ha-1): The data given in (Table 2) revealed significant variations in grain yield. Varieties PS-1 and PS-2 produced similar grain yield 5495 and 5261 kg ha-1 respectively; however the yield was higher as compared to Iqbal (check) (4128 kg ha-1) and PS-3 (4202 kg ha-1). Grain yield variation might be due to the diverse genetic background of these varieties and their response to agro-ecology of the experimental area. Earlier it has been reported that genotypic variations effect grain yield of maize considerably [26-28].
I. Biological yield (kg ha-1): The data given in (Table2) showed that maize varieties differed significantly for biological yield. Highest biological yield (12679 kg ha-1) was produced by PS-1, at par biological yield (12189 kg ha-1) was produced by PS-2, while biological yield was lower (10649 kg ha-1) with Iqbal (check). In the present study, maximum biological yield was recorded in maize hybrid because it produced taller plants and more stem diameter as compare to rest of the varieties. Taller plants produce more number of leaves, larger leaf area and more light interception, which result in more photosynthesis and higher biological yield [29-45].
J. Harvest index (%): Significant variation was observed in maize varieties for harvest index (Table 2). Leading maize genotype with highest percentage of harvest index was PS-1 and PS-2 with harvest index of 43.3 and 43.2%, respectively [45-64]. The lowest harvest index (38.9 and 39.0%) were calculated for Iqbal (check) and PS-3 respectively. Difference in harvest index was probably due to the change in genetic makeup of the tested varieties [23,26].
For more articles in Open Access Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/ijesnr/index.php
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cliftonsteen · 4 years ago
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Creating A Sustainable Model For Coffee Replanting
It’s no secret that there are a number of challenges confronting smallholder coffee growers around the world.
Firstly, climate change is reducing the amount of land suitable for growing arabica coffee. Some researchers have suggested that as a result, optimum growing altitudes in Nicaragua, for example, will increase from 1,000 m.a.s.l. to 1,200 m.a.s.l. by 2050. Meanwhile, low coffee prices continue to affect the economic viability of coffee farming in many countries. 
If these trends continue, coffee drinkers will have access to a much less diverse range of flavours in their cup, and smallholder farmers will have fewer ways to provide for their families. A number of these problems could be addressed by planting high-yield, disease-resistant coffee varieties that offer greater resilience to climate change. 
But supposedly simple solutions such as these are not always easy. Firstly, smallholder producers are often unable to access affordable credit to pay for these new varieties. And even if they do, they often face the possibility of selling their crop at prices that do not cover their costs. 
However, a new model being trialled in Nicaragua offers smallholder farmers the chance to build an economically sustainable livelihood, while also building resilience to climate change and strengthening local ecosystems. To find out just how this is possible, I spoke to stakeholders involved with this trial.
You might also like How Does Grafting Arabica To Robusta Improve Coffee Yields?
Why Coffee Producers Struggle To Replant Their Coffee Fields
Around 70% of the world’s millions of coffee farming families are smallholders. However, on smaller plots of land, the decision to replant aging coffee trees (or even plant them in the first place) is not straightforward. 
Around Rancho Grande, Matagalpa, in northern Nicaragua, while it is possible to grow coffee on these small plots of land, many smallholders instead practice something called “slash and burn”.
Edgardo Alpizar is Head of Agronomy in Nicaragua for ECOM Trading. He explains the technique. “What [producers] usually do is cut it during the dry season, then they burn it and they plant their foods, maize or beans.” 
By growing coffee, smallholder farmers reduce the land they have available for staple food crops. This means that to sustainably grow only coffee, farmers need sufficient income from other activities to buy the food they would have otherwise grown. 
In some countries, such as Nicaragua, smallholders may also work on larger neighbouring coffee farms to support themselves. Teresa Ruiz is Director of Expansion for Fundacion NicaFrance, an NGO that improves the living conditions of rural Nicaraguan communities. She tells me that “the minimum wage from manual farm labour on coffee farms is not sufficient to cover basic needs”.
And even if a smallholder wants to replant coffee, their first challenge is finding credit to cover the cost, which can range from US $3,500 to US $6,000 per hectare. Edgardo says that for “the big banks, it’s too expensive to provide access for those kinds of [smallholder] farmers”. 
Furthermore, smallholders sometimes do not have title to their land. This makes it more challenging for credit institutions to offer cheaper loans, when they would normally use a smallholder’s land as collateral. 
However, in Nicaragua, it is different, as Edgardo explains. “[Banks] create these small finance companies in the small towns, but they usually charge 25 to 30% interest annually. So, basically, there is no profit, because [they end up taking] the profit of the sale of your crop.”
Another challenge is that smallholder farmers are often unable to sell their coffees at financially sustainable prices. Smallholders rarely have access to specialty coffee markets, and certification schemes (which usually offer better prices) are not always available.
“A coffee producer is usually discouraged from [replanting] because of low international coffee prices and the barriers to producing a more valuable coffee crop,” Teresa tells me. 
A Collaborative Approach To Helping Smallholders Replant Coffee 
CIRAD is a French agricultural research centre. They are testing a prototype replanting model in Nicaragua. This trial offers a new way for farmers to plant coffee in a financially and environmentally sustainable manner. 
Benoit Bertrand is Research Director at CIRAD and one of the promoters of the concept. He says: “In the context of the falling real prices of coffee, forest loss, land degradation, and various competing certification systems for social and environmental problems, this trial offers a new way for farmers to plant coffee.”
At its core, the “coffee agroforestry business-driven clusters” (CaFC) model is straightforward.  It is a new organisational model that fosters social and environmental innovation through farm renovation.
Firstly, outside investors loan smallholder farmers the money they need to replant coffee trees on their fields.
These loans are repaid with the smallholders’ first three full harvests. However, in the meantime, smallholder farmers are paid a modest, yet dependable, maintenance salary. This incentivises careful cultivation to produce coffees with desirable cup profiles. 
Behind this arrangement, the model also needs a commitment from designated roasters to buy these coffees every year at above-market prices. In exchange, they receive quality coffee, and are able to use their socially and environmentally sustainable sourcing practices as part of their marketing. 
Furthermore, the model also brings in agronomy experts who guide the farmers to use agroforestry techniques. This empowers them to boost their income, minimise the adverse effects of climate change on their harvests, and support the local ecosystem. 
Dr Jean-Yves Duriaux Chavarría is the Project Coordinator for Our Coffee at Cornell University. “It’s a great deal,” he tells me. “The farmers end up being way better off than your average coffee farmer.”
The CaFC model is not a one-size-fits-all approach, however. For example, certain varieties of coffee plants work better in some regions compared to others. “Not everybody has the same situation,” Jean-Yves tells me. He explains that a monthly maintenance stipend in exchange for three full harvests might not suit every farmer. 
“There’s other farmers that have a bit more land,” he explains. “So they decide, the moment we start producing, I will [take half of the harvest] for myself, and [use] half to pay the credit.”
The CaFC model brings together agronomy experts, roasters, producers, and NGOs to maximise the long-term profit potential for smallholder farmers. It supports farmers who are replanting by leveraging agronomic best practices, affordable inward investment, and a reliable commitment from roasters. 
The Trial: Replanting In Northern Nicaragua
The trial taking place in Nicaragua is illustrating how the CaFC model benefits smallholder farmers. Many of the smallholders in the region own small parcels of land up near the Bosawas Reserve, in the Jinotega region.
“The small farmers, they own one or two hectares, maybe three hectares maximum,” Edgardo tells me. Incomes in the area are low; a study in a nearby region suggested that “65% of the people were living below the poverty line,” according to Jean-Yves. “This means less than US $1.82 per person per day,” he adds.
Because incomes are so low, coffee isn’t a priority. Instead, the land is used for growing cash crops, such as beans and maize, and replanting is carried out using the “slash and burn” technique.
Unfortunately, this cultivation technique is harming the Bosawas Reserve. Edgardo says: “People are moving into the forest, cutting the trees, and planting their food crops there.”
Farmers also often grow nitrogen-fixing trees called “guabas”, which grow seeds in “bean-like” pods. These seeds are covered with an edible sweet white powder. As well as providing crop diversification, the guabas trees also provide coffee plants with shade, protecting them against harsh direct sunlight.
Edgardo explains, however, that this can often pose more of a difficulty for smallholders. As trees grow, they get older and higher, which makes them more costly to harvest. “You have to prune the branches once or twice a year,” he tells me. “And it is hard to find people that know how to do that because they have to climb the trees.”
Making Coffee Replanting More Sustainable
The CaFC model, funded by the green trader ECOM and Fundacion NicaFrance, is providing a solution. Firstly, as outlined above, these smallholder farmers are offered loans to pay for the cost of coffee planting.
After that, these smallholders are paid a monthly salary to cultivate the coffee and guarantee desired cup qualities for the roaster. They pay back the replanting loan by giving away the proceeds from their first three years of harvests. 
In addition, the CaFC model being pioneered in Nicaragua “comes with training that teaches smallholder farmers how to produce high quality, sustainable coffee,” Jean-Yves explains.
He adds that the arabica trees being used in the Nicaragua CaFC trial are actually grafted onto the roots of robusta plants. This benefits the plant, as robusta roots retain more water and nutrients from the soil, and are more resistant to pests (such as nematodes, a type of parasitic roundworm). 
In this trial, rather than using legume trees, smallholders are instead getting their shade cover from native, precious hardwood trees, which grow slowly.
Once fully-grown (after around 20 years) the timber from a single tree can then be sold for as much as US $500. Edgardo says: “At the end of the coffee cycle, smallholder farmers can get US $25,000, maybe US $30,000 per hectare [from selling these trees].” 
If planted at the same time as the coffee, these hardwood trees will be ready for harvest and sale when the farmers need to replant, helping them cover the replanting costs.
They also provide a robust ecological habitat for wild birds and other animals. “If you go down, you see the coffee trees,” Edgardo says. “However, from the top of the trees, you would think [this land in Nicaragua] is a natural forest.”
“At first there was a lot of fear because the offer was too good to be true and many thought it was a trap,” Teresa tells me. “We started building trust when we followed through on the messages and promises we delivered in our meetings.” 
The Future Benefits Of This Collaborative Replanting Model
The smallholder farmers in the Rancho Grande trial will soon stop offering up their three years of harvests to pay back the replanting costs. After this point, smallholders will own the entirety of their crop. They will be able to sell their coffee wherever they want, to whoever they want. 
But Edgardo says that farmers have asked him if they can continue under the trial model. “You have to say ‘yes, we can continue’ [to the farmer] because he likes the price,” he explains. “The amount we’re paying for this coffee is much more than he usually would get from the middleman or from another cooperative.”
In return for these higher prices, Edgardo asks for higher quality coffee. This incentivises smallholders to continue with their careful cultivation.
Edgardo also mentions that the CaFC model also allows investors to recycle and reinvest their profit. This means the programmes can be expanded again and again to support other smallholder farmers in replanting their ageing coffee trees.
This local micro value-chain model is scalable beyond Rancho Grande. How quickly it will be rolled out more widely remains to be seen. The success is already there – and it’s proving to be beneficial for everyone involved.
This “cluster” model emphasises the importance of co-operation and communication in the coffee industry. Whether it’s used more widely or not, the sector certainly has something to learn from it.
Enjoyed this? Then read Combating Climate Change’s Impact With Hybrid Coffee Varieties
Please note: CIRAD is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.
Photo credits: ECOM Trading, Edgardo Alpizar
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thekolsocial · 5 years ago
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No Meat? Kashmir Turns To Climate-Smart Vegetables
New Post has been published on https://thekolsocial.com/no-meat-kashmir-turns-to-climate-smart-vegetables/
No Meat? Kashmir Turns To Climate-Smart Vegetables
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No Meat? Kashmir Turns To Climate-Smart Vegetables
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As meat disappears during the pandemic, a push to harvest water and grow climate-smart vegetables is having a big payoff.
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As a population of enthusiastic meat eaters, Kashmiris have felt the impact of India’s coronavirus lockdown at almost every meal. Kashmir’s meat supply, most of which comes from outside the Indian-administered region, has dropped sharply since a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the new coronavirus started on March 24, 2020.
Imports have stalled and many meat sellers around the Himalayan region have shut, explained Abdul Rashid, who usually eats mutton at least four days a week, but has not had any in the past month. To fill the empty space on their plates, millions of Kashmiris are turning to vegetables, which local farmers have been supplying in growing abundance over the past 15 years, after adopting new seeds and climate-smart growing methods.
“Our choices are very limited these days,” said Rashid, who lives in a suburb of the regional capital, as he stopped to buy vegetables from a seller at a local market. “As vegetables are mostly produced locally, we get them fresh. And we know where they have come from,” he said.
Since the start of the lockdown, Kashmiris have been consuming large quantities of haakh – a local variant of collard greens – as well as spinach, potatoes and onions, according to the Kashmir Vegetable Dealers Association. The boost in vegetable production is the result of changes including growing use of greenhouses and rainwater-harvesting systems, said Akhtar Malik, a curator at the University of Kashmir’s botany department.
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The amount of land being used to grow vegetables in Kashmir has more than quadrupled since 1981, to 48,000 hectares (120,000 acres), said Kashmir’s Director for Agriculture Altaf Andrabi. “Our vegetable production is touching new heights annually. The number of vegetable growers has grown in thousands over recent years,” he said, with over 100,000 people employed if transport and sales jobs are included.
According to official figures, 70% of Kashmir’s population of 7 million is directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture and associated sectors. Kashmir’s farmers currently produce about 1,500 metric tonnes of vegetables per year, he said, which in the peak summer season not only meets local demand but also allows exports to other parts of India where growing crops such as tomatoes, okra and peas is difficult, he said.
That demand for exports is significantly rising with meat in short supply during the coronavirus shutdown, he told Thomson Reuters Foundation over the phone from his office in Srinagar. “Kashmir valley has the unique distinction of … being able to make vegetables available to the rest of the country at a time when the whole country is in need of (more) vegetables,” Andrabi said.
The region’s vegetable production ramped up in the early 2000s, when farmers began using high-yielding seed varieties and protecting seedlings in polyethylene plastic-covered greenhouses, said Mushtaq Chitu, a retired professor at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
Greenhouses were a “game changer”, Chitu said, allowing farmers to grow all year round, even through the winter, and protect seedlings that once would have been washed away in the rainy season. Many farmers switched from rice farming to vegetables after discovering they could make five times as much money, he said.
While farmers in many parts of India have to wrestle with recurring drought, Kashmir’s succcess in ramping up vegetable production has been built in part on improving water storage, said environmental expert Shakil Romshoo. Installing irrigation systems is difficult in the mountainous and forested region, but farmers are using tube wells and ponds – and some have installed water storage tanks, said Romshoo, who heads the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Kashmir. More still needs to be done, though, he said.
“The government has said that it wants to increase farmers’ income, (but) such goals can’t be achieved if farmers have no easy access to water,” he said. Andrabi at Kashmir’s agriculture department said the government has helped many farmers without access to irrigation build water-harvesting tanks, and has dug wells and built irrigation canals where possible.
Reyaz Bhat, a farmer just outside of Srinagar, has two water-harvesting tanks – both of which he built because it was faster than waiting for help from the government, he said. The tanks provide enough water to irrigate his half-acre (0.2-hectare) vegetable farm, he said. Bhat, who swapped from growing maize to vegetables nearly a decade ago, now makes about 400,000 rupees ($5,300) a year selling his collard greens, tomatoes, cabbage and other produce. “What I used to earn from maize is not even comparable to the returns I get from growing vegetables. The vegetables fetch me enough money to live a comfortable life,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
With Kashmir’s lockdown extended until at least May 17, vegetable farmers say they are reaping the benefits of their bigger role at the family table. Before the lockdown, “I used to throw out some vegetables the next day as I would not find buyers for all my stock,” said vegetable seller Mohammad Yousuf. These days, when he takes his produce to the market in Srinagar, it sells out in less than three hours, he said. “I am seeing people buying vegetables like never before,” Yousuf said. “This coronavirus has made Kashmiri people forget about mutton.”
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kittykatkalmer · 5 years ago
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Agriculture
ECHO promotes organic seeds, tools, and innovations for growers worldwide who fail to feed their families. They are going out into the world to provide training and resources to enable small-scale farming families to prosper. ECHO is working on a realistic, economical Maresha planter concept, a direct seeder for single- and multi-row plantings of traditional crops such as maize and beans. ECHO provides hands-on and experiential STEM programs for young youth in Southwest Florida. Youth at the Anderson Appropriate Technology Center get to explore some of the challenges that make life difficult for families around the world. Anderson Appropriate Innovation Center is at its finest an innovative technology. Our facility is a unique workspace focused on demonstrating, researching and constructing tools / techniques that solve problems for small-scale farmers around the world.
Many foods produced in developed countries never make it into the bellies of men. It rots during transportation without refrigeration or when farmers refuse to sell it on the markets immediately. ECHO runs on low-cost solar dehydrators that operate without fans, a capability that resource-poor farmers still don't have. The Earthbag seed bank illustrates a system that does not rely on air conditioners to regulate everyday temperature variations. Capable of reducing changes in the interior temperature to 1-2 degrees, earth bags are capable of preserving seed viability for the next season. Connection to reliable, easy-to-maintain farm machinery is a concern in many areas. Adapted from an Ethiopian plow, ECHO East Africa has built, tested and modified the Maresha no-till planter to achieve a realistic design that can be produced from local materials at an affordable rate.
What starts as easy, workable ideas expands to other vulnerable places. Such knowledge is essential to food security and sustainability for certain populations; efficient methods, such as expanding harvest times. Instead of a two-month harvest for one variety of avocado, the consequence is a harvest cycle increased from two months to nine months, with certain types of varying maturities being planted alongside it. Application of terracing to save water or grow pest-resistant crops such as neem or marigold, as a remedy alongside more susceptible insect-prone crops. Checking the rice for improved yield in marginally drier areas. Information is exchanged with those in need of efficient procedures.  I saw a growing garden plant in Florida all along the trip. Which will make every salad a perfect addition! We learnt about the neem plant's therapeutic applications for managing a range of health problems, such as psoriasis , eczema, teeth and gum disorders or headaches I have learned about the repellent qualities of the larvae. I learned about a moringa plant with a high nutritional value that includes vitamins A, C, E, iron, folate and protein. Additionally, moringa seeds are used to purify water, reducing contaminated water particulate and bacterial content. This is a multi-purpose plant that is quickly growing and can meet the needs of others.
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shinebrandseeds · 3 years ago
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kathleenseiber · 5 years ago
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The twin values of an indigenous seed bank
In the central highlands of Guatemala, Rosalia Asig Cho ushers a small group of visitors into a one-room building, filled floor to ceiling with shelves of earthenware cylinders containing seeds from Indigenous families across the area: corn, amaranth and other crops almost lost during Guatemala’s decades-long civil war.
Seed banks, usually associated with the massive “doomsday vault” in Svalbard, with its nearly 1 million samples, are seen as backup copies of crops that might otherwise be lost due to natural or human factors.
Rosalia Asig Cho. Credit: Andrew Wight
Experts say seeds from traditional agricultural varieties — otherwise known as landraces or heirloom breeds — could help solve food shortages and malnutrition, as well as boost food system resilience to climate and cultural challenges.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), in the 20th century, around three-quarters of the world’s crop genetic diversity has been lost as farmers adopted high-yielding breeds with relatively little genetic diversity. Now around 95 percent of the energy we get from food comes from only about 30 kinds of food crops. 
But as Asig Chó, coordinator of the agricultural development non-governmental organisation Qachuu Aloom, explains, Indigenous communities around the world have been pioneers in preserving and reintroducing traditional agricultural varieties.
“Our work began in 2003, when families began to gather the seeds they have in their home, mainly corn and beans,” she says, “But most of the families did not have seeds from native plants.”
She says many of the families lost their seeds during the country’s armed conflict. Another factor was the introduction of hybrid seeds and agrochemical-based farming methods from overseas.
Now the organisation has 500 active members — 80% of them women — spread across the territory of the Maya Achi Indigenous group of Guatemala. Their aim is to help farmers get better at traditional and agroecological farming practices while helping to preserve native seed. The seed room provides the raw materials for this process and for the circular gardens and raised beds at their main seed farm outside of Rabinal, Guatemala. The project also has a diplomatic role: Seeds from the collection have been sown in the United States by students and supporters of the organisation.
Indigenous efforts to preserve seeds scattered by conflict aren’t limited to Guatemala. In February 2020, the Cherokee Nation became the first Indigenous nation in the U.S. to deposit its traditional seeds in the Svalbard vault.
Pat Gwin, senior director of the Cherokee Nation’s Environmental Resources group, says the tribe has focused since 2005 on finding and cultivating the crops lost during the forced relocation of the Cherokee people from the southeastern U.S. to Oklahoma during the 1830s.
“In 1838, only one crop went with the tribes because the tribes didn’t feel like it was right to uproot them,” he says. “Ninety-nine percent of those things were not removed with us, so we started at zero.”
He says the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank now preserves more than 100 different kinds of seeds. Last year they distributed close to 10,000 packages of seeds to growers across the U.S.
Better Nutrition
Colombian scientist Nora Castañeda-Álvarez, project manager with the Seeds for Resilience project at the international NGO Crop Trust, says seed banks conserve many crops that are relevant to food security.
Part of the same organisation that runs the Svalbard vault, Seeds for Resilience works with national-level seed banks in Africa to drive more resilient and diversified food production incorporating crops such as sorghum, millets and cowpea.
At the Qachuu Aloom seed bank, earthenware jars hold seeds from indigenous families throughout the Baja Verapaz region of Guatemala, including heirloom corn, amaranth and beans. Credit: Andrew Wight
Castañeda-Alvarez says that traditional varieties can be more nutritious than other varieties. Separate studies have shown this to be true in eggplants and chickpeas.
“Nowadays, landraces are being used in breeding programs to enhance the nutritional profile of several crops,” Castañeda-Alvarez says, adding that one example of this is in the development of a more nutritious breed of maize (corn).
Back in Guatemala, Asig Cho also highlights nutrition as an advantage.
“The varieties of the seeds that we have in our seed house are from the region of the Maya Achi people, in the northern region of Guatemala,” Asig Cho says. “This ancestral seed has nutritional properties that can prevent malnutrition in children and the family in general.”
Toolbox for Climate Change
Ebrahim Jahanshiri, Malaysian-based program director at Crops For the Future, an international partnership organisation, says local crop varieties are key to boosting food security as climate changes.
Jahanshiri says many underutilized crops, which Crops For the Future is aiming to further develop, are grown in marginal conditions, and that makes them suitable candidates for developing solutions for climate change.
“A solution might also come from using other adaptable crops in the food system rather than just digging deeper into the genetic makeup of major crops like maize,” Jahanshiri says, “They could also potentially require less investment and quicker returns compared to over-researched crops because the majority of them are native crops that are domesticated locally but are neglected by the governments and researchers.”
Castañeda-Alvarez offers the example of a sorghum variety from Burkina Faso as a good illustration of the potential of traditional varieties.
“A traditional sorghum landrace was rediscovered through participatory plant breeding, and it has traits that help the crop to cope with the changing climatic conditions,” she says.
Preserving Cultural Heritage
Both Gwin and Asig Cho say that their seed banks are also key to preserving the cultural heritage of their respective Indigenous groups.
Given that the Cherokee people were scattered across the continental U.S., Gwin says that anecdotally, many of those cultivating the traditional varieties see it as part of keeping their traditions alive.
“A lot of Cherokees live in California and they view the opportunity to grow these crops as a tangible connection to their heritage,” he says.
Gwin says the four most important preserved varieties are corn, beans, squash and native tobacco.
“One of our ceremonies is the green corn ceremony, so of course, you need green corn for that,” he says.
For Asig Cho, the preservation of seeds is closely linked to the success of Guatemalan Indigenous communities, particularly the women members.
“The dream is to achieve the strengthening and consolidation of an organisation that watches over the well-being of its own people, especially women and their families,” she says.
She tells the visitors gathered in the seed room that Qachuu Aloom, which translates as “Mother Earth,” uses its role as a women’s organisation to focus on using the conservation of native seeds as the basis of their own development.
After eating a lunch that includes leafy green and whole-grain tortillas prepared using ingredients that are only still available thanks to the efforts of the seed bank, the guests leave — taking with them new awareness of the potential of Indigenous seeds, small as they seem, to change the world in a very big way.
This article was originally published on Ensia and is republished here with permission under the terms of a Creative Commons’ Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported licence. View the original article here.
The post The twin values of an indigenous seed bank appeared first on Cosmos Magazine.
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geohoneylovers · 5 years ago
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Importance of Pollination in Beekeeping
The practice of using bees to pollinate fruit crops is as new as the beekeeping industry in most parts of world.
From flowers, the honeybees collect large quantities of nectar for the production of honey to feed themselves and pollen for feeding their young. In the collection process, the insect pollinates thousands of different kinds of plants, including edible and cash crops.
Many parts of the world are blessed with similar variety and nutritive quality in their available food supply. If less fortunate parts of the world are to improve their diets to include more meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, there will be need for great world-wide increases not only in bee-pollinated crops but also in bees and beekeepers to carry on the pollination and particularly an increase in knowledge and understanding of what a potent force in food production and human nutrition the honeybee activity is.
Usually crops depend on the wind for their pollination, including cereals: millet, guinea corn, maize and rice. Plantain, cocoyam and yam also do not need insects to pollinate them. But most leguminous vegetables; cash crops such as coffee, cola nut, cocoa, coconut, palm, cashew and shea butter; fruits such as the mango and citrus; and many other plants cannot be pollinated without insects.
The insect forages for nectar and pollen from several thousands of plant species and in the process pollinates a wide variety of crops important for the survival of life. While bees may visit many species of plants in a day, a forager may also constantly visit one plant, sometimes for several days, until there is no more nectar or pollen to collect.
Pollen is a vital food for the brood of the honeybee. The bee needs it in the hive, but the flower also needs the bee to fertilize it. The bright colour and sweet odour of the flower combine to attract insects. The honeybee, which has a powerful sense of smell and a keen sense of sight, is easily attracted to the flower. In the process of gathering both nectar and pollen, it incidentally transfers some pollen from the flower's male organs, the anthers, to its female organ, the stigma. The pollen germinates, and penetrates to the plant's ovaries, where the seeds are formed.
Role of Honey Bee in Pollination
The honeybee starts its foraging activity between 5:00 and 5:15 a.m. Flight usually depends on the weather and temperature. The honeybee will not leave the hive if the temperature is below 14°C or if the wind speed is above 30 kilometers per hour. To be effective, pollination should take place in warm, clear weather, but too much heat has the same adverse effect as too much cold.
If the weather is hot, dry and windy, the flower's stigma may dry out, so that pollen deposited does not germinate. Pollen may also not be available in conditions of continuous rainfall, since flowers are usually scarce during the rainy season.
The honeybee is the only insect that can successfully be moved from farm to farm. It is estimated that five average colonies (about 50 000 bees each) can work a two-hectare plantation. This is achieved by moving colonies and siting them close to the farm.
How Beekeepers Help In Pollination
The beekeeper must study carefully the temperament of his bees, and keep a record of the seasons when they are friendly or aggressive in his locality, because during certain periods of the year, bees can be transported easily without precautionary measures against aggression and stinging.
A motorized lorry is an indispensable tool for the professional beekeeper. Bees cannot be moved by head-load. The top-bar hive cannot be transported over long distances on poor roads or tracks, and therefore hives that are to be transported frequently must be fitted with movable frames. The hives should have a ventilation hole about two centimetres in diameter, covered with mosquito mesh. Their bottom board should be coated with termite-repellent paint.
The hives should be light enough to be loaded and unloaded easily. Combs with capped honey should be removed to reduce weight, while uncapped combs should be retained in the hive. Before loading, hives should be inspected and all unwanted openings sealed with wood and wax, since they can create problems if the bees come through them and cluster outside the hive. However, bees tend to cluster quietly in moving vehicles and rarely attempt to fly away or cause any harm until movement stops.
Honey bees are less troublesome riding at night. Hives should be loaded in the evening, when most of the bees have returned from foraging. The bees clustered at the entrance are smoked to drive them into the hive. The entrance is then sealed, and the ventilation hole is opened to allow air to circulate through the hive. Hives can be stacked one above another. They should be packed closely and neatly, and secured with a trucer's rope. The journey and the reinstallation of the hives should take place at night: hives should be unloaded and installed before sunrise, because the bees will be ready to leave shortly after that time. To assist in the night work, a flashlight with a red bulb, or covered with red cellophane, is a useful tool, because bees cannot detect red light and are therefore not disturbed by it.
Various Pollination Programs
Fruit-growers should be encouraged to keep their own bees to ensure that their crops are properly pollinated. Growers who for any reason do not wish to keep bees should be advised to use the services of a beekeeper who has colonies to move about for the purpose.
In order for a pollination programme to work successfully, it is important that the farmer and the beekeeper work in close collaboration, because both have an essential role to play. Among several things they should agree on, these are the most important:
1. The number and the strength of the colonies to be provided. Rented colonies should be queen-right, with at least four brood combs;
2. The dates of delivery and removal of the colonies;
3. The distribution of the hives on the farm;
4. The fee and schedule of payments which is negotiable and depends on a number of factors, including proximity and transport costs, the quantity and quality of honey produced from the crop, and the risks, if any, involved in the operation.
5. Ownership of the honey produced that’s normally belongs to the beekeeper. If not, his fee is likely to be higher
6. The right of the grower to verify that the colonies are up to strength. However, the grower should never attempt to open hives without the consent of the beekeeper.
7. Restrictions on the use of insecticides or pesticides toxic to bees, not only during the rental period but for a specified period before it begins.
8. Precautions to be taken against bush fires.
9. Liability for random stinging by bees, for vandalism, for livestock damage, and for theft of hives.
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dailynewz · 6 years ago
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List of Best Seed Companies in Hyderabad 2019
List of Best Seed Companies in Hyderabad 2019
There are many seed companies out there in the marketing and here are some of the best seeds provider company in Hyderabad and go through the list find your ideal one. And the list been prepared on the basis on usage of farmers and on the google ranking forthese companies in the search engines organic results.
Big Haat
BigHaat is founded by a team of avid entrepreneurs in the year 2015. BigHaat is India’s largest Agri Inputs Marketplace Platform providing wide choice of quality inputs to farmers at their doorstep. BigHaat is bringing accessibility of quality agricultural products and personalized advisory by leveraging its Technology offering for farmer empowerment. BigHaat has adapted multichannel strategy to reach out seed growers across India and addressing their Agricultural Input needs. Our portfolio offering includes broad range of Seeds, Plant Protection, Plant Nutrition and Agri Implements. Our clientele includes farmers, nurseries, FPOs, NGOs and other institutional growers. BigHaat has partnered with leading Indian and Multi-National Agricultural Input brands comprising of DuPont-Pioneer, Monsanto, Dow Agro Sciences, Tata Rallis seed, UPL Advanta, BioSeed, Mahyco, Seminis, Namdhari, Semillas Fito, Known-You, Tata Agrico etc.
Website : https://www.bighaat.com/collections/seeds
 Kaveri Seeds
Kaveri Seeds is a key partner in energizing Green Revolution that starts with the seed, the most unequivocal contribution to agribusiness. Hereditarily upgraded premium quality seed has been the sign of Kaveri for over three decades, The Company has huge involvement in seed generation of major agrarian yields sponsored by an extremely solid in-house R&D program for harvests maize, cotton, sun blossom, bajra, sorghum, rice and a few vegetable yields.
  Ganga Kaveri Seeds
 The seed of Ganga Kaveri Seeds Private Limited was sown as dream of a dynamic on Agriculturist in a little town called "Maktha" in Karimnagar locale of A.P. State in India. The doyen being Shri M.N. Reddy vested with the Krishi Pandit Award (A rural master) by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. He perceived the requirement for developing seeds to meet the ranchers' prerequisites and in this manner advanced a firm called Ganga Kaveri Agricultural Farms in organization with his oldest Son, Shri M.V. Reddy. Ganga Kaveri began its seed generation work in relationship with Rockefeller Foundation and National Seeds company (India).
  GARC
GARC quality has been its Research exercises. Research is engaged to meet the necessity of the agriculturists, showcase and agro industry to give practical innovations, it presents upper hands to ranchers with predominant Hybrids and verities. The company reliably centers around the changing needs and tastes of ranchers, increasing the value of its items. GARC has faith in expanding efficiency with Green Technologies and ordinary Plant reproducing techniques. We likewise direct trails at multi areas to test the flexibility and appropriateness of recently created items.
    .JK Agri Genetics Ltd
JK Agri Genetics Ltd.(JKAL), is a main seed company built up in 1989 with its home office at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh(India). JKAL is one of the pioneers in the Indian seed industry resolved to serve cultivating network. JKAL is occupied with innovative work, generation, handling and advertising of Cotton, Maize, Paddy, Pearl Millet, Sorghum , Sunflower, Castor, Mustard, Wheat, Sorghum Sudan grass, Fodder beet, Tomato, Okra, Chillies and other vegetable seeds.
  Nu Genes Pvt. Ltd
 Nu Genes Pvt. Ltd., Formerly known as "Nitya seed sciences Pvt. Ltd. is a seed company occupied with half and half improvement, seed creation, seed preparing and seed advertising. The company is advanced by a group of in fact qualified individuals with quite a while of pooled up involvement in the seed industry.With a modest start in the year 2004, the company has been formed into a full - fledged "inquire about driven" company.
   Ajeet Seeds
     Ajeet Seeds took an interest and shared its job by creating and providing quality half and half seeds to the designers at moderate expense. Ajeet-11, the cotton half breed presented in 1992 is known for seed quality, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Ajeet-11 was trailed by Ajeet-33 with distinctive contrasts and properties. Proceeded with research had brought about numerous half and halves in Jowar, Bajra, Maize, Sunflower, Vegetables and mixture Bhendi Ajeet-311 was propelled in 2002. It was trailed by half and half Chilies, Brinjal, Tomato, Bottle Gourd, Bitter Gourd and so on.
 To get the best deals on SEEDS Click Here
Website : https://www.bighaat.com/collections/s
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soufiansfn · 6 years ago
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Discover More About The Village Display Ideas Designed By Specialist Functions
By Margaret White
Commonly, the notion of the seed program in economics would have been restricted to formal seed market for producing, multiplying, and distributing completed varieties because certified seeds. This can be openly and private funded, and organized into various ways. For instance, maize seedling industries are believed to develop along route from preindustrial organization towards the maturity level, characterized by completely commercial business with herb variety safety, patents, and various funding arrangements like in village display ideas. The idea of a casual seed strategy is documented thoroughly by additional anthropologists, botanists and geographers. Often, the informal product is treated individually by experts in these matters as vestigial or minor to the procedure for economic advancement. A working seed method would be defined as research which uses the right combination of formal together with simple supply stations, market deals to activate and fulfill efficiently evolving demand of growers for top quality seeds. In a few occasions, developing material of assortments required has been recorded and decided for a long time on local homesteads simply like agriculturist types, familial sorts. In different people, agriculturists acquire planting materials on limited markets or maybe from different cultivators that should be created far by expert plant hound raisers. This incorporates blended style models and expanded open pollinated species. Seeds assortment might consist of mass collection practices or simply breeding. Farmers in limited environment regularly save and replant mix seed and also those of additional industrial kinds. Marketplaces is surely an element of growing materials devices, sending worth through customer determination to invest. Researchers take in essential materials as creation information sources and semi subsistence farming, furthermore they devour the gather. When item commercial centers are blemished, the interest originates from the cultivating family with respect to both use properties and agronomic qualities. These characteristics suit innovation together with physical highlights. In subsistence agriculture, buys of increased seed might be periodic. The majority usually would be reproduced from your harvests from the previous months or the shares maintained simply by community users, who might trade seed starting with other areas, according to local best practice rules. Understanding devices is crucial intended for managing harvest biodiversity in locations exactly where it is considered to be of the two private worth to business owners and interpersonal significance to get future plants improvement plus the resilience in the system. Although physical device of seeds that expands a harvest is a personal good, the diversity with the genetic assets embodied in it would be a general public good. Seedling systems express incentives pertaining to farmers to grow 1 crop range rather than an additional, or to develop a number of plants and types rather than a single. Community entry to the hereditary resources put is impacted by the degree to which it really is traded upon markets or perhaps through various other social organizations, together with simply related rules and legal frameworks, nationwide and worldwide agreements. This kind of study pertains village devices to natural diversity of millet vegetation grown inside the arid countries in India. Crop biodiversity would refer to equally genotypic and phenotypic variance. The research offered here is a part of larger task whose goal is to offer practical info to those involved with millet mating programs or perhaps who make these guidelines. To plan local market medical procedure in considerably less supported conditions, for example, directed rearing, framework mitigation, understanding the quality highlights of both similarly formal and casual gadgets for varying harvest conceptive framework frameworks and enhancement position is vital. This exploration should be from numerous publications.
About the Author:
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kenresearch6-blog · 7 years ago
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Improving Economic Trends To Propel Growth In The Vietnamese Seed Industry-Ken Research
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The practice of agriculture globally is respected as a magical power that can result in reduction of poverty, rising incomes and improved food security for nearly 80% of the world's poor, especially for those who live in rural areas and work in the farming sector.
Over the years, according to Seed Market Research Reports, Vietnam’s agricultural sector has experienced a persistent and impressive change. The seed industry has been recently observed to shift positively, promoting a planned economy and has begun to emerge via the support of a new governing legislation. The system changes including more liberalization of input and new techniques applied in output marketing have established an institutional transformation and thereby resulted in significant development of this sector, particularly rice production.
Today, current exports average of rice stands somewhere around 6-7 million tons per annum. Vietnam is thus the world’s fifth-largest rice-producing country having local centers and institutes that have bred around 260 inbred rice varieties along with nearly 70 hybrid rice varieties as per the Vietnam Seed Industry Research Report. It has been witnessed that in order to spread seed production in the country; in-country training programs are usually organized that well make the seed growers aware about various methods involved in the evolving seed technology and with time, the number of such trainings has augmented on its own since the significance of this industry is well realized. Generally, such trainings are carried out by different organizations like: the local extensions department, the hybrid rice research center, and ADB/IRRI project. The key players that currently prevail in the Vietnamese seed industry constitute: Vietnam National Seed Joint Stock Company, Southern Seed Company, Bioseed Company Vietnam, Dekalb Vietnam Company Ltd. (Monsanto), Syngenta Vietnam,  and East-West Seed. All these players are putting in their best efforts to function effectively and end up meeting the final goal of holistic economic progress.
However, it has been identified on proper scrutiny of Vietnam Seed Industry Analysis that F1 seed production of rice has relatively dwindled in the recent years majorly due to near about 10% decline in the subsidies from government and increase in the cost of inputs like fertilizer chemicals and labor. Though, with the help of joint ventures of foreign seed production companies, which purchased exclusive rights to produce and sell hybrid rice seeds; the use of input-responsive modern varieties, sufficient fertilizers, along with a rise in the proportion of rice area under irrigation have been encountered that is expected to ameliorate the current situation in the coming years by focusing on producing high yields throughout.
Besides that, it has been investigated that maize has been Vietnam’s second largest annual crop, after rice, in terms of cultivated area and due to its increasing importance, the local maize production has not been enough to suffice the demand in the recent years; resulting in the import of maize at volumes of about 2 million tons every year and consequently, nowadays, hybrid maize has replaced the old OPV cultivars and traditional maize varieties and currently accounts for as high as 89% of the total maize grown in the country.
Even, the production of chilies and peppers have played a crucial role in the seed sector since Vietnam happens to be one of the major producers of chili and pepper, which fall under the top vegetable crops, economically. Furthermore, Vietnam Market Research Reports for Seed depict that with the motive of achieving higher efficiency and effectiveness in seed production market, the top companies are aiming to develop the overall seed production technologies. For instance: companies like Vinaseed and Thai Binh Seed have modern drying, processing and packaging systems, which can control up to 70.5% of seed production technology and these technologies are eventually bound to be triggered by innovation in the long run.
Geographically, Vietnam has been one of the largest importers of seeds in the Asia-Pacific region and nearly 83% of the total seeds are sourced by Vietnam since the country imports billions of dollars worth of products every year. According to Ken Research Seed Market Research Reports Consulting services in accordance with the stable growth rates of the market, the valuation is further envisioned to reach around USD 1.7 billion by 2020 since the demand for merchandise seeds is projected to amplify by twofold, accounting for near about 70 percent of the total plantation area in the next five years. These forecasted trends show that Vietnam possesses a lucrative soil for many multinational agriculture groups like Mosanto (US), CP Group (Thailand), Syngenta (Switzerland), Vilmorin (France), East West (the Netherlands), Bayer CropScience (Germany) and Sakata (Japan) to cultivate. Therefore, the industry is all set to open up great avenues for all the seed producers globally, as the years roll by and simultaneously continue with its expansion.
To know more, click on the link below:
https://www.kenresearch.com/agriculture-and-animal-care/seed/SC-104-20.html
 Related Report:
https://www.kenresearch.com/agriculture-and-animal-care/seed/vietnam-seed-market-research-report/553-104.html
 Contact Us:
Ken Research
Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications
0124-4230204
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The strawberry whisperer with a BA in economics
After graduation from Hanoi’s National Economic University, all the friends of Bachelor of Economics Vu Van Luc sought jobs in the city. But he decided to return to his homeland in the northern mountainous province of Son La to realise his dream of cultivating strawberries.
From the trial plot growing on 1,000sq.m in Moc Chau district, the young man now owns 4ha of strawberries and makes an average profit of VND500 million (US$21,700) per year.
Luc was born and raised in Ang village, Dong Sang commune of Moc Chau district.  Since childhood, he dreamed of growing up to become an agronomist. 
the strawberry whisperer with a ba in economics hinh 0 However, after graduating from high school in 2009, Luc enrolled and went on to study at the National Economic University, following his parents’ advices.
During college, he stumbled onto an article on the Internet about method of strawberry cultivation that was highly economically efficient, Luc told danviet.vn online newspaper.  
His passion for agriculture suddenly returned.
In the city, he decided to plant a trial strawberry garden on a 10sq.m plot.
“Every day, after class, besides reviewing my homework, I spent all my free time caring for my small strawberry garden,” he said.
Over time, he learned how to grow the plants most effectively and came to enjoy the process.
“Looking at the strawberry plants growing well, I felt very excited and intended to develop the farming model when I returned to the countryside,” he recalled.
In 2013, he graduated from the University with a good degree. Rather than applying for a job in State agencies or enterprises in the city like his classmates, Luc determined to pursue the dream of making a life for himself by growing strawberries.
Thinking that “To succeed, you must gain practical experiences”, he went directly to the Central Highlands city of Da Lat to learn techniques from the experienced strawberry growers. He didn’t hesitate to work for a large strawberry garden’s owner in Da Lat. After two years, Lực had accumulated much experience in planting strawberries and decided to return to his homeland of Moc Chau to set up his farming model.
He remembered that when he decided to grow strawberries in his hometown, his parents didn’t object but didn’t show much cheerfulness. Many neighbours commented that so far no one had brought a “strange tree” like the strawberry to plant in Moc Chau. But he kept the words out of his ears, determined to turn his dream into reality.
VND500 million profit from 4ha of strawberry
In 2015, with the money he saved while working as hired labour in Da Lat, he borrowed more money from family, relatives and friends and then invested in renting land and buying seeds for his trial planting on a 1,000 sq.m area.
Thanks to the proper planting and care, his strawberry orchard has grown well.
After three months, he collected the first sweet fruit. His first harvest netted a profit of nearly VND30 million.
This first victory helped him gain more confidence and boldly invest in expanding the strawberry growing area.
He now grows on all four hectares of his strawberry garden at Moc Chau. The result has surprised and impressed not only his relatives but also people all over town.
According to Luc, the strawberry is temperate plant, suitable for Moc Chau’s cool weather all year round.
“Easy to plant and easy to care for, but its economic efficiency is many times higher than that of maize, cassava,” he revealed about strawberry.
“Strawberry cultivation is not technically demanding, but it must be hard for farmers to earn high benefit.”
He said the most decisive step in the development of strawberries was the selection of seed. Seedlings should be healthy plants so that they can resist diseases during the process of growing up. Land preparation must ensure porosity, clean soil and the right dosage of fertilizer at each stage of plant’s development. Among his total 4ha is a 4,000sq.m greenhouse.
In order to save labour, he has invested in a small irrigation system based on Israeli technology. He adjusts the water-volume depending on the weather; for example, he waters two to three times each sunny day.
He developed his strawberry growing model based on the principles of clean agriculture, eschewing pesticides.
With their characteristic red and fragrant berries, Fragaria and Chipi strawberries are preferred by many customers. Traders from Sơn La and Hanoi poured into his garden to purchase fruit.
In 2017, he earned VND1 billion revenue from his strawberry plot. After expenses such as seeds, fertilizer and harvest, he earned a VND500 million  profit.
He also created regular jobs for more than 20 local labourers with an average income of VND4.5 million per person per month. This motivates  the young man to continue to work on the strawberry garden.
VNA
The post The strawberry whisperer with a BA in economics appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.
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lovacedon · 8 years ago
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Indian exporters back out from cotton deals on price dispute
KARACHI: Indian cotton exporters have backed out from their commitments of delivering 50,000 bales to Pakistan, demanding more rates than what they agreed for the orders booked in November and December last year, industry sources said on Saturday. 
The sources said the deals were registered at the price of 73 to 75 US cents per pound. The current lint price is around 83 to 85 US cents per pound. 
“Indian exporters now want either cancellation of all the deals or an increase in the price,” one importer said. “Local mills are coming back and buying from the local market… they are in trouble.”
Officials said cotton delivery was expected in January and February.  They said the state-owned Department of Plant Protection (DPP) disrupted cotton supply from India in November and December 2016.
The DPP discontinued import of lint from India despite the arrival of 12,000 bales at the port on November 20. Around 10 spinning mills had imported the lint, but the government held them at the port and ordered their re-exports. Following such orders, some mills had received stay orders from the courts.
However, a meeting between the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association and officials of DPP in December last year sorted out the matter and thereby the government allowed conditional delivery of 12,000 bales and further import from India. 
Textile mills said they need more imports as local crop is not sufficient, especially in view of the announcement of exports incentive package that encourages rise in exports from mainly textile industry. 
Because of a gap in demand and supply, Pakistani millers have booked import orders for 2.3 million bales from India, China, US, Sudan and South Africa. Around 0.7 million bales were booked from India. “Since India is nearby and even Wagah border is opened for lint delivery, it is feasible compared to imports from other countries,” said an industry official.
Pakistan’s total cotton demand is around 14.5 to 16 million bales. Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association recorded cotton arrival, till 31 January, at 10.63 million bales, 10.63 percent higher than the last year. 
Industry officials said the fate of another 200,000 bales, expected to come from India, is also hanging in the balance after the price issue. An official said India used the same tactics in 2008/09 and 2012/13 when prices had suddenly increased after the trade deals.
“Importers are likely to move to the International Cotton Advisory Committee against the Indian exporters, who violated the agreements or were using delaying tactics in other delivery after the price hike,” he said.
Officials said an increase in the sugar mills and unavailability of proper seed and pesticides are the major reason of cotton growers going for the other crops.
“The weaker-than-expected recovery in cotton output is mainly due to a sharp contraction in the sowing area in the Punjab,” the State Bank of Pakistan said in a report. “In particular, exceptional losses from previous year’s crop (due to pest infestation) and low domestic cotton prices at the sowing time, pushed growers away from cotton to other crops (sugarcane and maize).”
The area under cotton cultivation in Punjab saw a reduction of more than 20 percent over last year. A shift to maize and sugarcane crops caused around 35 percent of the decline in area. Some area has gone to minor crops, agriculture experts said.
Indian exporters back out from cotton deals on price dispute
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