Farmers now broadcast groundnuts – how productive is it?
A
look at the agronomic and socio-economic implications
In
order to achieve optimum yield for every crop, there is a recommended plant
population. It is easy to get
the appropriate plant population by planting the crop in rows.
Groundnut
is a very important cash crop in all farming families in areas where the crop
has a potential thereby increasing household income and food security.
However,
farmers in their attempt to cultivate this important crop have resorted to a
practice which requires serious considerations to ascertain its productivity. Thus,
an agronomic and socio-economic study was conducted into the practice in
selected communities in Karaga and Yendi districts where the crop is
cultivated.
Findings from study
Results
show that both the haphazard planting and the broadcasting methods had significantly
lower yield than the dibbling at recommended spacing (60 x 5 cm ) on flat
ground and in rows, even though the same quantity of seed was used. For one
thing, this is probably because there was no even spread of the seeds to efficiently utilize both the
above and below soil resources Secondly, crowding at some spots while other
spots were sparse allowed weed growth, and weed control was difficult and time consuming.
These factors result in low yields compared to the dibbling.
In
all the districts the dibbling yielded higher than the broadcasting.
However, in some districts this may partly be due to
enhanced rainfall.
Disadvantages of broadcasting.
•
Difficult to
achieve the right plant population.
•
Refilling is
difficult if there is drought and germination is bad
•
Cultural practices in
terms of weeding, fertilizer application, harvesting etc are also difficult to
perform.
Even
though it is early to conclude using one year data, dibbling at the recommended
spacing will always give higher yields no matter the precision at which the
broadcasting is carried out!
Can our media friends help us
inform the general public, especially our local farmers on the need to do
dibbling instead of broadcasting?
A Paper released by Ghana Communities Development Association (GDCA
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