PRE-PLANTING OPERATIONS

These are the operations carried out in the farm before sowing. They include;

• Choosing of site
• Clearing
• Stumping
• Plotting
• Tillage practices
• Ploughing
• Harrowing
• Ridging

Choice of site

The choice of a farm site is a part of the activities before planting. This is guarded by;

The nature of the land (Topography): This is, whether the land is hilly or level. A fairly level land should be chosen to reduce the cost of the land preparation and erosion control problem.

The type of soil: This should be considered in the choice of farm site or location. This is because soil is the medium for plants growth and poor soil will produce poor yield.

Availability of inputs such as labour and planting materials: The workers to be employed that will work in the farm must be available in the area where the farm is to be located. Crop planting materials should also be available. The ease of transporting farm produce and sale also guard the choice of a farm site.

Clearing of site

The farm site is cleared by means of hand tools such as the cutlass or mechanical equipment such as bulldozer. The equipment used depends on the vegetation in the area. In the rain forest belt, cutlass may be required for brushing the under growth while axe, motor saw or chain saw and cutlass are used to fell the trees. The trees are chopped into pieces. On large scale, bulldozer may be used to remove forest vegetation. Burning can be carried out on cut undergrowth and plants, especially in the rain forest area. This helps to add ash which contains lime and potassium which make the soil alkaline. Alkalinity of the soil leads to increase in nitrification process. The remains of burnt plants are packed and re-burnt. The larger trunks are left to decay in case of small holdings, but bulldozers may be used to push them off in the case of mechanized farming.

Stumping

This is the removal of plant stumps and roots from the soil. It is a tedious operation. The practice is usually avoided in small scale private farms. Where crop rotation system is practiced, stumping is done. 

Plotting or laying out

The act of dividing the farm land into sections is called plotting or laying out. This is usually based on the report of soil survey. Soil survey shows the nature of the land (Topography), Soil types, and nutrient status. Soil and water conservation methods to be used on the land. It also shows where to locate the various farm steads. Plotting can be done by using the 3-4-5 method.

How to use the 3-4-5 metric method in farm plotting: Erect a pole at about the Centre of the farmland. From the pole A, take a base line AB 4m long with a string tied to the pole. Tie another string, 3m long, to the pole at A and extend to C. A third string 5m long is also tied to pole B and is extended to meet pole C thereby forming a triangle with a right angle at A. Arrange poles along the line AB to the end of the farm. The same is done to the side line AC. Ensure that you sight them to give straight lines. The length and breadth of the farm so measured will make it easy to divide the land into plots. Paths are used to demarcate the land into blocks.

Tillage practices

Land tillage is the operation that follows after the land area has been cleared, stumped, and plotted. Tillage involves the opening up of the soil for seed planting. This could be done by means of simple farm implements such as hoe in a small scale farm. Mechanical devices such as the tractor and its coupled implements like ploughs, harrows or ridgers could be used in tilling the land. This is used mostly under large scale farming. The purpose of tillage is the same whether hand tools or mechanical equipment are used.

Ploughing: This involves the tillage or turning of the soil upside down. It can be done with a hoe, a spade or a tractor driven disc plough in the tropical regions or mouldboard plough used mostly in the temperate regions. Animals could be used to drag the plough during tilling. It is usually the first equipment to be use on cleared farmland. The plough cuts and inverts large lumps of soil. Weed seeds are then buried below cultivated seeds. The disc plough is more suitable for use in heavy, sticky and dry tropical soils than the mouldboard plough.

Harrowing: The harrow is the next equipment used after the land has been ploughed. It is used to further breakdown the large lumps of soil cut by the plough into smaller pieces. This is called pulverization of soil. The disc harrows are more suitable for use in tropical environment. After harrowing it may be possible to grow crops such as rice which do not required seed beds or ridges for other crops such as yam, tomato and groundnut after harrowing. This will necessitate the next operation which is ridging.

Ridging: This is the last stage in land preparation for planting of seeds or seedlings. It can be done by means of Indian hoes or tractor driven disc ridger or mouldboard ridger. Animals could be used to drag ridger for ridge making. Ridging is done normally across the slope of the land to prevent it from being washed away by erosion. It is spaced 1m apart. This is measured from the top or crest of one ridger to the other. The length of the ridger depends on the availability of land and choice of the farmer. A standard ridger should be 25m long. It has a conically shaped top or crest or triangular shape. The trench between two ridges is called furrow. Tie-ridges can be constructed at intervals between two ridges. Ridging increases the depth of surface soil for better crop growth. 

Farm with operations in progress