Proceedings of the South & East African combined agricultural, cotton, entomological and mycological conference held at Nairobi, August, 1926

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1738588467

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-115043

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Proceedings of the South & East African combined agricultural, cotton, entomological and mycological conference held at Nairobi, August, 1926

Place of publication:: Nairobi

Publisher:: East African Standard

Year of publication:: 1926

Scope:: VI, 337 Seiten; Ill.

Digitisation:: 2020

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part II. Agriculture

Collection:: Economics Books

PART 11. maize receives and harvest, have over-run the land. Indeed, in some cases, it is difficult to decide whether the crop is maize or some new type of yellow flowered chicory. The competition for nutrients and for water is generally won by the weeds and the crop suffers badly. It is this successful competition for water on the part of the weed that gives the foundation for the cry of decreasing rainfall; it is not a decrease in the rainfall but a decrease in the available rainfall that is limiting crop production. Unlike the rain, beyond human control, notwithstanding claims to the contrary, the control of the availability of the rainfall is largely within the powers of the farmer. The control entails rotation of crops, maintenance of soil structure, and clean cultivation and tillage at the proper time. Single crop farming, unlike planting, does not demand very close supervision, and where coffee plantations are measured in tens of acres, maize farms are measured in hundreds. These large farms unless heavily capitalised and run on factory lines, cannot be kept cleanly cultivated and, as long as they are retained, their owners will have to be content with a decreasing return due to increasing competi- tion for water and nutrients by weeds. The decrease in nett return on the larger farms is becoming so serious that a plunge into rotational farming, even of the simplest type, cannot be undertaken lightly, lest the loss on the area under unproductive crops absorb the profits on the rest of the farm. The necessary manuring entailed means so heavy an outlay on fertilisers that the large owner cannot risk the expenditure; an application of as little as 100lbs. per acre of Seychelles guano, the cheapest phosphatic manure available in Kenya, involves the man with 1,000 acres under maize in an outlay of £300 to £400. Unless he have a large capital, so as to stand any losses, it will be impossible for the farmer on a large scale to utilise the rainfall, the limiting factor to maize production, to its greatest extent. The day of the smaller farm cultivated more intensely, probably yielding a greater nett return than the large farm, is dawning. Until this condition is attained the necessary freedom from weeds will not be secured. Much may be done while the present system lasts by cleaning the field as soon after harvest as possible instead of waiting till the time of ploughing. The burning of the stalks early would destroy a great many weeds. An early ploughing to enable the weed seeds to germinate readily followed by cultivations to destroy the young weeds will rapidly decrease their number. At the same time the soil will not be dried out so badly during the dry season; there will be a small residum of moisture in the soil to be added to the rains. Into the rotation must be introduced crops capable of smothering the weeds. The system outlined can only be fully applied on a small farm. Before any rotational system of farming will be adopted it must be shown, by costed demonstrations, that the system will give an increased nett revenue over the period of the rotation, and that the unproductive leguminous green manure crop only means a temporary loss of revenue for that field only. Proof only will cause the farmer to depart from his present practices. This insistence upon the use of leguminous green manures, when the wealth of the indigenous flora in legumes and the time the soil has been under cultivation are taken into consideration, may appear 35

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