Sadik Sadique, a maize farmer from Trans Nzoia County is has been able to double his crop production by adopting new methods of planting which include increasing spacing and adopting soil testing to determine fertiliser ratio following experts’ advice.
In 2016 used to produce 500-600 kilos per acre from his 700 acres farm but this changed in 2017 when he consulted agronomists from, a company that was established in 1989 in East Africa continues to change the lives of many local farmers in the area.
His production has since doubled to 1000-1500 kilos per acre.
“When Cropnuts experts first visited my farm, I was planting 2-3 plants per meter and they increased it to 4-6 plants per meter which translate to 24,000 plants per acre this is some of the changes they made together with carrying out soil test and advising on the best ratio for applying fertilizer,” said.
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Besides giving expert advice to small-scale farmers to help them get more crop yield from their farms, the company also offers farm inputs at a fee.
“We use Sunbelt farm as a model to show what successful modern farming is. Modern farming, in this case, means abandoning traditional methods of thinking around farming and allowing experts who understand the science of farming to handle your agricultural needs. Sunbelt farm went through a very difficult time where they were making losses and Sadique contacted us to navigate their challenges,” says Ian Mutua a Cropnuts agronomist.
Towards the end of 2016, Sadique’s farm just like majority of maize farmers in Kenya was attacked by the fall armyworms that made him realize a big dip in the produce of that year. Later on, in 2017 Sadique decided to look for expert help to mitigate the problem at hand.
“Cropnuts came in and showed us what we were doing wrong and they helped us correct it. Some of the challenges we faced were, low plant population, weed pressure, pests, fungal disease, wrong timing of farm activities and poor crop nutrition. With all these challenges, the farm only managed to harvest six bags per acre in 2016. In 2017 however, the story was different and they recorded a tremendous increase to 32 bags per acre in the harvest and continue to do so,” said.
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According to Sadique, the Cropnuts agronomist visits the farm at least twice a week to see the progress of his crops. “Once you seek for Cropnuts advice they carry out routine soil tests, nitrogen fertilizer recommendations, soil healthcare program, and soil life test throughout a farmers contact with them.”
“In Cropnuts, we’ve really got someone to support us whenever we got emerging crop issues that need urgent Agronomic assistance,” says Babuh.
The involvement by Cropnuts led the farm to harvest 32 bags per acre from six bags per acre. As Sadique admits, taking up modern methods of farming through expert advice is how to reap maximum benefits and profits from your farm.