Garlic farming Botswana, step one.

Garlic farming Botswana, step one.

First of all if you have not read the introduction to garlic farming Botswana you can read it Here

Ok so here is step one!
When it comes to farming Garlic here in Botswana, your first question is no doubt where do i buy garlic seeds from? Well the good news is that you dont need seeds! Although garlic can be grown from seed, the most common method is to use the garlic cloves for planting, so basically you just have to go into your. Nearest supermarket and buy your self some garlic, when choosing your garlic cloves for planting keep these points in mind.

1. Choose garlic that is fresh, the garlic you choose should be firm and plump NOT soft and hollow,

2. Choose the type of garlic, you will notice some garlic is bigger some are more compact others are even redish in colour, rember what you plant is what you will get.

Step two coming soon, please feel free to leave questions in the comments.

Garlic farming Botswana

Well hello dear readers

One of the beautiful things about farming in Botswana is that unlike other country's there is not that much competition in the agricultural field, and hence an entrepreneur minded farmer can do quite well for himself.

Something we dont see much of here in Botswana is garlic farming, now i am not really sure why this is so!? Because garlic is perfectly suited for Botswana. One of the problems garlic farmers often face is....wait for it.... To much water! Yes thats right, for garlic to produce well it needs a short wet season and a long dry season to allow the garlic to mature.
And hence i guess you can already see why garlic farming is perfect for Botswana. Interested? Well what you waiting for check out step one to garlic farming right Here

Make the most of the rains, botswana farming tips

Rain is finally falling across botswana, and lots of you may be runing for your plows in order to start planting. Hopefully most of you have already plowed,although this is not looking like a great year with regards to rain, however there is good news in this for some of you! And that is, if you do get a good crop you should have no problem selling it at a good rate.

So heres a few tips to help you get the most of this years rains.

1. Cultivate, yip loosen up that topsoil so that the rain water will sink down to the roots and this will allow the plant to make the most of the rain that does fall.

2. Remove those weeds. There is only so much water, dont let it go to waste by watering weeds,

3. Dig in compost, however make sure its well broken down compost other wise it will start composting around the plants, and that will cause the plant to even die. Well composted soil will hold water longer. Read Here to find what vegetable's grow well in Botswana

All the best.

Best vegetables to grow in Botswana

So you have a small plot here in Botswana and you wish to grow a few vegetables to help feed your family or earn some extra cash.
What are the best vegetables to grow? Well we will look at this from two ways, first what is the easiest to grow and then what makes the most money.

What is the easiest vegetables to grow in Botswana?

On the top of this list we must put Rape. This hardy vegetable can cope with the heat of Botswana and also grows happily on a wide variety of different soils. It also grows very fast. If one takes the time to cultivate the soil first and put into the soil lots of cattle dung one will reap good crops in very little time. Another favorite is Swiss chard also growing very fast although not as popular as rape, you can read more on how to grow swiss chard. HERE

What is the most profitable vegetable to grow in Botswana?

We have two favorites on this list, first tomatoes. At around 10 pula per kg of tomatoes in Botswana you can earn a lot of money growing tomatoes. Learn more on Botswana tomato farming Here

Second on our list is cabbages. Not only can a farmer make up to 12 pula on a cabbage, cabbages are very hardy and easy vegetables to grow even here in sunny Botswana, learn more about cabbage farming in Botswana Here

How to plant tomatoes in Botswana part 1

Tomato growing in Botswana is somthing that all vegetable farmers in Botswana should look into. In some parts of Botswana farmers are getting paid over ten pula per kilo for tomatoes.

Yet what is needed to farm tomatoes successfully in Botswana? In the next few posts we will answer

How to grow tomatoes in Botswana soil preparation
When to plant tomatoes in Botswana.
What types of tomatoes are best for Botswana?
How to stake tomatoe plants in Botswana?
How to sell tomatoes in Botswana?

Botswana Cabbage growing tips part 1

Farming cabbages in Botswana has it own set of rules. One of the greatest challenges to Botswana cabbage farmers is the heat. When it comes to growing cabbages a farmer wants plenty of sun light at least six hours yet he does not want extreme heat as this sucks the water out of the grownd leaving the cabbage field looking like a vegetable compost heap. So what's to be done about this? Well one thing you want to do is to slow down the amount of water that is lost by evaporation each day. So the more sandy the soil the quicker the water will evaporate so in order to slow this down, before a farmer plants out his crops about a month before he will inrich his field with as much organic mulch as possible, Some mulching ideas are....
Cow dung
Goat dung
Old leaves
Old grass cuttings
Elephant dung is great if you can find it ko kasane

To find out why growing cabbages in Botswana is a great idea click Here
And you can now read part two Here

Make money small scale farming in Botswana, part 2

One of the greatest secrets of making money with a small scale farming enterprise, is to keep your overheads down and start producing produce as soon as possible. So lets take a brief look at how we can do just that. First of all,count the cost,this is just common sense yet it is amazing how many new farmers fail at this. So lets say as an example,farmer X wants to farm tomatoes. He should at the least do the following exercise. Costs Land what is the cost of the rent or if he owns the land what is the cost of the fencing or security Water what is the cost of water,this could include petrol for the pump Staff do i need staff? and how much will it cost me, Any expense should be included in his budget then since most crops take 90 days to harvest he should times his expected expenses by three months. That sum should be in the bank before even one seed is planted! So how to cut costs? Well one way to cut costs is to cut time! So how do we cut time? Well lets say our crops will take 90 days to harvest. You could cut a whole 30 days by planting your crops in seed trays at your house. That means that for your first month you can save on staff costs water costs at the farm and your crops will be much stronger when done in trays. Second we want to start making money as soon as possible so while we wait out our 90days for our main crop to mature.why not plant a second crop like rape, harvests in around 60 days and although it may not make as much money as your main crop it will help cover the costs.