Covid-19 Agricultural Disaster Fund

Tips on winter cropping for Eastern Cape Farmers

CROPPING has always been a seasonal exercise that relies mostly on the type of crops and their aptness for that particular season in the field of agriculture but with the growing demand for food all year round, farmers have found themselves faced with a challenge to produce crops even in incongruous seasons

. Some farmers with the experience that has come over the years in crop production and emergence of technology have found ways to yield high quality produce regardless of seasonal changes. But emerging farmers, especially those who just turned commercial still struggle in seasons like winter where there is a dire shortage of water and extremely low temperatures.

To address this, the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform in the Eastern Cape which is the custodian of agriculture has embarked on an initiative to take emerging and subsistence farmers by the hand in the process of elevating them to successful farmers. This includes all year round crop production.

As MEC for the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Nomakhosazana Meth says “everything else can stop except agriculture” and with the Winter season upon us, the department is using its specialists in crop production to share pointers on cropping during winter with special focus on types of crops suitable for the period and how farmers can best overcome the challenges that come with the season.

According to the department’s agricultural scientist, Simphiwe Mhlontlo, climatically, the coastal part of the Eastern Cape is a transition between the subtropical climatic conditions of KwaZulu Natal and the Mediterranean conditions of the Western Cape. And this is one of the reasons why the coastal areas such as Port St Johns receive long hot conditions and high rainfall in Summer, with very mild Winter.

“However, the interior is characterized by very cold winter during the months of June, July and August; and July has been observed to be the coldest month in most areas,” said Mhlontlo. The average temperatures in winter in most inland areas can drop to as low as 2°C while during the summer months of December, January and February the highest average temperature is around 35ºC and is normally recorded during January. The province receives most of its rainfall between October and April after which there is a usual decline from May to September and the most minimal rainfall received is usually in July. High frost incidences are usually experienced in most inland and mountainous areas starting in May until July.

“Based on this, it becomes very difficult for farmers in the inland areas of the province to practice dryland winter cropping but can produce crops such as wheat, peas, onion, winter cultivars of cabbages, among others, under irrigation. Wheat is one of the grain crops that has been grown successfully in the past in areas such as Ncora Irrigation Scheme where temperatures met its vernalization (cold) requirements. In essence, vernalization is the cooling of seed during germination in order to accelerate flowering when it is planted,” Mhlontlo added.

In coastal areas with mild winter such as Port St Johns, farmers can increase their web by growing a variety of vegetable crops including green mealies.

Another benefit of growing crops in winter in cold areas is the reduced disease and pest outbreaks as the conditions are not conducive for their survival and the farmer will be saving as there will be less application of insecticides and eventually, less cost of production. Mhlontlo further advised farmers especially emerging farmers to conduct thorough research before buying seeds and seedlings so they can establish the difference between winter cultivars and others.

DRDAR LEVELS UP FIGHT AGAINST ANIMAL DISEASES WITH REINFORCEMENTS

The Eastern Cape government through its department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform has always waged a strong war against animal diseases of which some are deadly to both animals and humans. The diseases are either caused by bacterial or viral infection, but they pose a major threat to animal population and effectively impact negatively on the province’s agriculture sector and the economy at large.

This has been evident with farmers losing drifts of pigs following the outbreak of the African Swine Fever in the first semester of the year. Annual vaccination programmes have been put in place as a mitigation measure but the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) has gone greater lengths to reinforce its team at the forefront against the animal diseases in the province. To this effect, Dr Kim Rosslee is among the reinforcements to join the department. Dr Rosslee is a State Veterinarian designated at the Mnquma Local Municipality area which includes the vast areas of Butterworth, Nqamakwe and Centane.

She completed her studies in 2018 at the University of Pretoria Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in Pretoria with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science Following this, she was placed in Butterworth, Eastern Cape for her compulsory community service year for 2019 and joined the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform as a full time employee this year.

“This beautiful area in which I work provides me with a variety of challenges and cases involving many different species, namely: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, dogs, cats and chickens,” she said.
Apart from treating sick or injured animals, veterinarians are also involved in disease preventions through vaccination and dipping programs. The Annual Vaccination Program is divided into quarters, each dedicated to certain devastating diseases that are harmful to human and animal health.

According to Dr Rosslee, diseases such as Anthrax and Rabies are preventable through vaccination, both of these diseases are fatal to humans. Viral diseases such as African Horse Sickness and African Swine Fever have been major problems in Mnquma this year.  And just on her first year with the department she was welcomed by the latter diseases that broke out in some parts of the province but she has put on a great fight against the diseases –something which she attributes to the support she receives from both the DRDAR Mnquma-based and provincial office.

While our focus was on the viral diseases an outbreak of African Armyworm occurred during the early stages of the National Lockdown. “This is a migratory pest of pastures causing it to become toxic to the livestock who ingest it. I work together with a great team in Animal Health, the workload was easy to carry,” said Dr Rosslee.

IMPORTANCE OF SOIL SAMPLING FOR INCREASED CROP YIELDS

As farmers prepare for the next planting season, there are key things that have to be observed in order to have great yields at the end of the season. It has been always for every farmer to know the suitability of crops or vegetables before attempting to plant. This information is valuable as every farmer’s dream is to maximise profit and minimise loss.

The Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform has experts who assist farmers from time to time to achieve this. According to Zolani Mkile, a Soil Scientist based in Dohne Agricultural Development Institute where a team of researchers in various agricultural fields operates form,

“South African soils are extremely deficient in major nutrients especially phosphorus (P), potassium (K), nitrogen (N). Maize deficient symptoms of these macronutrients are shown in photo 1 below. These nutrient deficiencies can be corrected by addition of fertilizers (organic or inorganic) after following correct soil sampling procedures. “The importance of soil sampling procedures cannot be over emphasised in soil analysis programme.

It is well known that the sampling error is generally greater than the error in a laboratory analysis. It must be taken into account that usually a 2.5 g subsample of soil taken from a 500 g soil sample (from 15 cm depth) represents a 2.5 ha field. It also represents less than 1 billion (1x 109) of the total soil volume for which the analysis is carried out.

Therefore, the value of soil testing depends on how carefully the soil sample is taken. A poor soil sample is usually worse than none at all because the results are misleading. The best soil sampling procedure takes into consideration correct soil sampling equipment,

Sampling area, number of cores (subsamples), sampling pattern, sampling depth, time and frequency of sampling.

Soil sampling equipment A Beater soil sampler (photo 2) is a pre-requisite for obtaining high quality soil sample. It is not advisable to use other soil sampling tools like “screw in “type of augers, spades or towels for taking topsoil samples. The problem with the latter type of samplers is that it is difficult to obtain sufficient number of subsamples.

Sampling materials when taking soil samples, it is of utmost importance to use clean plastic bags and standard soil sample (box) cartoon (400 g). Please take note, contaminated fertilizer bags, milk containers, cement containers, baby milk formula containers, maize meal containers, oil tins, and tins with rust and contaminated shopping plastic bags.

Sampling area the size of area of which a composite sample can be taken away varies from a small garden plot to the field of 20 ha or more. The following guidelines should be taken into account when deciding on areas to be sampled: a) the sample should represent one soil type. When sampling a large field with different soil types, separate samples should be taken for different soil types. b) The field to be sampled should be subdivided based on cropping or fertilization histories. That is, each area that has been cropped or fertilized differently should be sampled separately. c) Edges of a field or garden that may have lime or fertilizer spills, localized poor drained areas within a field must be avoided. If such areas are large, they need to be sampled and fertilized separately.   d) Patches in the land where plant growth is poor and showing localized fertility problems need to be samples whilst the crop is still on the land. Once the crop is removed from the land, it becomes impossible to identify such areas.

Sampling depth The sampling depth for row crops such as maize, beans, pumpkins, sorghum, vegetables as well as pasture establishment is 15 cm. For established pastures the sampling depth is 10 cm. The reasons for different sampling depth are: They represent the soil zone in which maximum Subsoil acidity is a constraint in crop and pasture production. Therefore, in order to take subsoil samples, the long soil auger including “screw in “type of augers is recommended. The usual practice is to take depth samples at several localities in the field with separate samples being collected at 20 cm increments down the profile to a depth of 1 m.

Sampling pattern For both top and subsoil samples, a representative soil sample is obtained by taking 20 to 40 subsamples (cores) in a zig-zag patternnutrient uptake occurs for such crops. Such depths are used in field calibration trials, which form the basis of fertilizer recommendations. If someone is taking soil sample for maize, choose 30 cm depth, and base his or her fertilizer recommendations on such norms, these will result in over-fertilization. The maintenance of a constant sampling depth is accomplished with a Beater sampler (auger) since it cannot be pushed dipper than its crossbar.

Mixing for composite soil sample The composite sample obtained must be thoroughly mixed and a portion is used to fill standard soil sample (box) cartoon (400 g) or clean plastic bag that will fit 400 or 500g of soil.

Time and frequency of sampling. It is always preferable to sample soil after tillage (in June), especially where fertilizers have been band-placed. In order to facilitate timely ordering of fertilizers for the following season, soil sampling should be carried out sometime before planting the intended crop or pasture.

Liming It should be borne in mind that where acidity is a problem, it is necessary to incorporate lime 4 to 6 weeks before planting in order to allow neutralization reaction to take place.

The first visit of the Eastern Cape MEC for the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) Nomakhosazana Meth to Mqanduli RED Hub was warmly welcomed by the stakeholders.

Long-time chairperson of the Hub Sithembele Zibi said the constant visit by various politicians from both the province and nationally, especially MECs and Ministers dealing with agriculture and rural economy development was “inspiring us to do more.”

“There is a lot of inspection from people including politicians and other stakeholders. This is making us to be on our toes and do more. We are happy that you are here so that you can advise us,” Zibi said.

Zibi said the Hub is made of 11 primary cooperatives that have a capacity of producing 564 tons of maize in 911 hectors of land and it has employed 25 permanent employees while each cooperative hire about 15 or more people during the harvesting seasons.

Due to the severe drought conditions, Zibi said unfortunately only 4 cooperatives have planted maize this year and for the milling plant to operate they will have to buy maize from other farmers in the province and beyond. Asked if they had any complaints by the MEC, Zibi confidently pronounced; “We do not have any complaints, it’s all praises for the support we have received. For the first time in our lives of ploughing maize, we saw real money when this Hub started (in 2013/14 financial year). We cannot step out of it now and we cannot let anyone stop it because we are making money.”

The Mqanduli RED Hub has machinery including 10 tractors, self-propelled combine harvester, oneton bakkie and two tractor trailers. The grain silos have a capacity of carrying 2 500 tons of maize and has a calibrated weighbridge connected to a computer that measures the incoming grain DRDAR also provided fencing of the arable land to member cooperatives. The main market of the products of the milling plant that include mealie mealie, samp and animal feed are Spar EC, Umtiza Farmers Corp, Isithebe Business network, social grants pay points and walk-ins.

The Red Hubs works with stakeholders that include DRDAR, ECRDA, national Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform, local and district municipalities, First Business SA as well as Umtiza Farmers Corp and Humansdorp Co-op. MEC Meth said she was “excited” to see the that Hub is still operational and going “stronger by day.” “This is an encouraging business enterprise in a rural town hence it is important to support it,” Meth said.