Practical farming knowledge for Africa
Planting, feeding and protecting the crops Africa grows: maize, sorghum, cassava, legumes, wheat and more.
The right number of plants per hectare depends on how much water your field can supply. Here is how to choose a target stand for maize and other crops, and turn it into seeds per metre and kilograms of seed.
Counting cobs, rows and kernels in a few measured strips gives a useful yield estimate weeks before the combine or the harvest team arrives. Here is the method, the sums and its limits.
Crops develop according to the heat they accumulate, not the number of days since planting. Growing degree days turn daily temperatures into a heat count you can use to compare hybrids, plan planting dates and predict flowering.
A sprayer that puts out more or less water than you think puts out the wrong dose of every product. Here is how to measure your real spray volume per hectare and work out how much product goes into each tank.