Zambia Agribusiness Society - ZAS

C - How to Grow Watermelons – ZAS

Watermelon, Citrullus lanatus, is part of the Cucurbitaceae family and is thought to have originated in Southern Arica. Today, watermelon is cultivated all over the world on all five continents.

Watermelon is frost sensitive and are monoecious (both male and female flowers are produced on the same plant). The flowers remain open for approximately a day and are insect pollinated. Watermelons are usually eaten as fruit, in fruit salads or as deserts.

C - Soya Bean Growers Guide – ZAS

Topics covered in this resources include: 

• Soils and climate 
• Fertilisation 
• Varietal choice 
• Choosing the right soya bean variety
• Planting and crop management 
• Soyabean Planting Guide 
• Pests and diseases 
• Harvesting 

C- Cowpea Production Guidelines – ZAS

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is ranked close to common beans as a food legume in Africa. It performs well in hotter and drier parts of Zambia replacing common bean as a food crop for grain and leaf in those areas. Cowpea is an annual crop that is more tolerant to high temperatures and extended drought periods than most other legumes e.g. Groundnuts, Soya beans or Common Beans. In Zambia cowpea is mainly grown as a substance crop for home use

C- Rice Production Guide – APPSA

C- Rice Farming in the Chambeshi Flood Plains – SNV

Through their associations the farmers are able to solve their own problems. All the institutions that are working with SNV are helping the farmers to meet their goals. It is a programme that the farmers lead and which they want to see succeed. In the past, according to Mr. Mutale, Government and donors used to implement programmes without consulting them enough. The donors did not train them how to carry on after they left. There were also some functions like marketing which they could not perform. They could only negotiate at a lower level and failed to link to financiers and other service providers. The farmers now feel they are learning and will be able to continue after the organisations that are assisting them leave

C- Groundnut Production – A Concise Guide – A.J. Cilliers

Groundnuts are a popular source of food throughout the world, including South Africa. In many countries groundnuts are consumed as peanut butter or crushed and used for the groundnut oil or simply consumed as a confectionary snack roasted, salted or in sweets. In other parts of the world they are boiled, either in the shell or unshelled.

Groundnuts are produced in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, on sandy soils. The production practices vary from highly sophisticated commercial ventures in the western world to more traditional cropping practices in third world countries. Yields vary from about 400 kilograms to several tonnes per hectare depending on production system and production area. In South Africa, groundnuts are grown in the summer rainfall regions under irrigated or rainfed conditions.

Resource limited farmers, especially in the northern and eastern parts of South Africa grow groundnuts mainly for own consumption. Groundnuts are an important source of nutrition in the northern KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga areas. The crop can also contribute to more viable and sustainable cropping systems in other parts of the country. It is expected to become more important for the following reasons: It is an excellent rotation crop which can replace maize as a monoculture crop since it enriches the soil with nitrogen. Secondly it is a crop with high economic value which can fetch a high price on local markets. Groundnut production requires more management skills than many other crops. Successful farmers are those who apply the prescribed management practices throughout the production process.

C- Groundnut Production – N2Africa

Groundnut is a legume with grains that are very nutritious and contain much protein (23-25%) and oil (45-52%). The grains can be used directly for food, or processed for cooking oil and a range of other products. Groundnut grain has a good market demand. The crop residues are also rich in protein and are good feed for livestock or form a good basis for compost manure.

Together with bacteria from the soil, groundnut forms root nodules. The bacteria are called rhizobia and can fix nitrogen from the air into a form that groundnut can use for growth. This explains why groundnut can grow and yield very well in soils poor in nitrogen. Part of the fixed nitrogen is used to make protein in the grain, but some of the nitrogen is also left behind in the field and improves soil fertility. This makes groundnut a good crop to grow as intercrop or in rotation with other crops, because these other crops then also benefit from the nitrogen. With good practices and the right varieties, grain yields can be as high as 4000 kg/ha.

C- African Organic Agriculture Training Manual Module 09 Crops Unit 22 Mango

Mango trees (Mangifera indica L.) are cultivated in many countries of East, South and West Africa. In these countries, mangoes contribute to farmer family diets as well as serving as a cash crop. Mangoes are a delicate fruit and, therefore, sensitive to transport, which limits trade opportunities. However, there is considerable market interest in processed mango—in pulp or dried form.

C- Mushroom Cultivation: An Effective Means for Poverty Alleviation – ZAS

A mushroom is defined as “a macrofungus with a distinctive fruiting body which can be either epigeous or hypogeous. The macrofungi have fruiting bodies large enough to be seen with the naked eye and to be picked up by hand” (Chang and Miles, 1992). In a narrow sense, the word mushroom also refers only to the fruitbody. Mushrooms used to be classified into the Kingdom Plantae, but now they belong to the Kingdom Fungi due to unique fungal characteristics which draw a clear line from animals or plants. Unlike green plants, mushrooms are heterotrophs. Not having chlorophyll, they cannot generate nutrients by photosynthesis, but take nutrients from outer sources.

C- Apples – Organic Production Guide – Tammy Hinman and Guy Ames

This publication provides information on organic apple production from recent research and producer experience. Many aspects of apple production are the same whether the grower uses low-spray, organic, or conventional management. Accordingly, this publication focuses on the aspects that differ from nonorganic practices—primarily pest and disease control, marketing, and economics. (Information on organic weed control and fertility management in orchards is presented in a separate ATTRA publication, Tree Fruits: Organic Production Overview.) This publication introduces the major apple insect pests and diseases and the most effective organic management methods. It also includes farmer profiles of working orchards and a section dealing with economic and marketing considerations.