Farming in Zambia: How we make compost out in the field
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- Опубликовано: 6 авг 2024
- Compost is a crucial component in how we grow vegetables at Mondo Farms. It forms the very foundation of our vegetable farming by giving our plants a healthy basis from which to go from the field to our bank balance. It also saves us a bit of money.
This video starts by defining what compost is, and then looks at how and why we use it. And then we share how we make our own compost in outdoor heaps using our version of hot composting. 
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I wish I could give you a hug. I love your explanations and being pragmatic
I have two labor saving suggestions for you,
Number one involves the mixing of compost. The best way to aerate, blend and move compost is with a long handled pitchfork. This is the kind of pitchfork that one would use for collecting hay. It will have 5 to 7 thin steel rods that easily slide between the layers of organic material. When a forkful of material is lifted, some will fall away, the entire lift will be aerated and the process happens in one movement. The second worker uses a rounded shovel to collect and move the loose material to the new pile. Both workers move in a circular pattern around the pile they are moving so they are always taking material from a new spot and never in each others way.
The second suggestion is loading your drop side trucks. Always load the trucks from the side. Do not throw material onto the tailgate. Leave the tailgate in the raised position. This access gives the two loaders a broader target so they are not in each others way. Also, it takes less energy because they do not have to throw new material up and over the pile of material that has collected on the tailgate.
It is also useful for workers to change tools and positions regularly so they give some variety to the muscles they are using and the way in which their muscles are working.
When workers are doing manual labor. it is always useful to stand back and observe. Anything that can be done to minimize the fatigue of repetitive motion will make the workers happier and the company more profitable.
I hope you find this useful. Both suggestions come from personal experience doing manual labor in the field.
Your produce is beautiful! You should be very proud. All the best
Thanks, Steve. We have come to value your input and advice.
I asked Tyson to have a look at your comment, and he has received it positively.
We will try to put it into practice.
These are the little things that can make a real difference.
@@mondofarms4343 Thank you very much for the reply. I hope my suggestions makes your laborer's more efficient and their activity less tedious.
It is a wise man who values the little things. 👍
Valuable input🎉
@@lizzysichaambwa9428 Thank you for your kindness 😊
This is the first video am watching from this channel. I think it's amazing. Keep it up
Thanks and welcome
I have learnt so much from your videos. Thank you so much.
You are so welcome!
Thanks for sharing. Well presented and very informative.
Glad it was helpful!
Once again a brilliant video. I am not a farmer but growing food in my yard. It cost me an arm and a leg to amend my soil. Living in the desert in Namibia there’s that. I cannot imagine doing everything “organic” on a scale you do it. Your produce looks fabulous. Neighborly greetings 😊.
Thanks. All the best.
Beautiful presentation thanks, good work!
Thankyou for the way you presented this video. I now can go out and by following your commonsense exçplanations try and make our own compost. Thank you so much
😅
Thank you very much Mr folotiya for the knowledge we really appreciate it is really of help to us
Glad to hear that
Thank you for the great insight each time I watch your channel. You're a great teacher, I've learned a lot from you and strongly motivated to farm once am back to Nigeria. Thank you so much.
Great to hear. All the best.
Deepest appreciations Mr. Folotiya, i really learned a lot from this video and it seems to have been tailored to make my dreams in farming come true. i am Moshe Ramahlo from South Africa in Limpopo Province
You are most welcome and we are glad it was helpful
Keep going and keep practicing is indeed the word of the day. thank you
Always!
How much compost is required for one
acre garden?
I absolutely love this video and technically you’ve just given me the process for my business. In Kenya we’re big on manure and not compost or Vermiculture…i have a farm with animals and plants.
Also love your explanation for balancing compost and synthetic fertilizer, you are running a business and should make the best possible decision. Don’t let anyone bring you pan’gang’a … you have a business to operate. Don’t use that approach myself but you have 100% reason to be profitable.
You are so welcome!
Agriculture is scientific.It is the way to go in Africa.You are on the correct path to liberate Africa from poverty.
Indeed
Very very lovely and simple way of expression of explanation about the making. Very educative. Thank you very much.
Glad you liked it!
Another banger. I would love to visit your farm and spend a day with everyone over there.
Thanks. Yoh, we appreciate that so many people would like to visit our farms, but we have foind accommodating visitors quite challenging for us to meet our work deliverables and targets.
However, we are planning to host ama farmer field days where people can visit in a structured manner.
Very nicely explained. I am from India and maybe you can try ancient Indian fertilizer made from (fermented cow milk, urine, dung, ghee, and curd) and we call it Panchgavya,. That is what we Indians use its cost effective, contains amino acids and it works great. You get a lot of videos on You Tube how to make Panchgavya.
Your videos are so insightful.
Thank you.
You are most welcome
So very informative. Learnt alot as an upvoming farner. Keep it up.
Glad it was of benefit
Very good stuff. I appreciate all the knowledge ive gained from your videos.
Glad to help
You are very much appreciated for sharing such important guidances
Keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
What an invaluable content, Thanks for the great job!!
Glad it was helpful!
Zebigge this is really awesome and inspiring. Nice one. Following seriously seriously
Thanks
Thank you, am still doing backyard farming and I can still remember my time in the classroom lecturers
You're most welcome
One thing I like about your videos is the practical part of them. That makes everything realistic and easily undestood, more so in an African context. Thank you.
You're most welcome ☺️
Thanks Mondo Farm's great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
I love what u do brother and thanks for the information always, God bless
So nice of you
Nchoncho..twalumba bwana..!!! Lovely lovely video. Very simple to understand an amazing presenter as well.. I have a small ka munda in Blackburn and I like you I have youtubed and come across your video.. tiza yes mwamene mu kaamba..
Great 👍
All the best mudala
Thank you for sharing Mr Chisha
My pleasure
great job ❤
Thank you! 😄
Informative information. Tana from Namibia
Glad it was helpful 😊
Educative video.
Thanks
Your cool sir with your informations i like it hope to use in my farm too. Kenya
Thanks. Best of luck!
Looking forward to vist the mondo farms
We are planning field days later this year and will advertise them in good time.
Thank you for sharing.
You're most welcome ☺️
You're most welcome
So simplified but so informative bwana Folotiya... Coming at a right time❤
Glad it was helpful!
Hi from Paris,
Thank you so much for your video! I also make compost but in a different way inspired by the ancestral method (700 years) : African Dark Earths
Enjoy your day!👋🏾🌱
Thanks.
I love this video just in a making my own compost too hot compost the best though it’s full of Labour ❤❤
Indeed
Congratulations.
Thank you very much
So nice of you
Very good instructional video. Loved it.
How far apart do you space those sweet peppers?
You're most welcome
Congratulations ! ☀
🥳
Nice 👍🏾
Thank you! Cheers!
You may try getting a few rabbits. Their manure is cold and will not burn plants at any stage of plant growth. They have the highest npk of all farm animals. They can eat some things from your garden to maintain them. Thanks for sharing. Your soil looks so different in color from mine here in the US. It's so interesting to see the productivity that you are able to garner from it by God's grace! May God keep you and your family, workers and their families.
Thanks for the suggestion. We're going to stick to our strategy of focusing on crop farming for now as we strive towards commercial levels.
Alison, you can only imagine how much advice we get from so many people. I appreciate it is well meaning, of course, but 30 years in business has helped me build up a certain level of belief in the paths I choose.
But we're so glad you enjoy our videos.
Well. Done. And. I. Will. Try. At. My. Back. Yard. Mary. From. Nigeria. Thanks
All the best.
Good vibes uncle.
Yebbo
Hello Sir!
I loved your way of making compost because you explained clearly, and that made it simple to follow way better than the other methods of making compost in utube.
Very informative vedio and thank you for that
Do we need to cover the compost at the process time?
How long can we use the compost before it expire?
Thanks and welcome
Great looking farm. I have the opposite to contend with, clay soil :P Have you considered using compost tea as part of your compost mixing process? I find it gives a great bacteria booster to help the process get going. You could leave a barrel stewing away next to the compost piles.
Thanks. Appreciated.
Hey there, I have been following your channel for a while and learnt a lot.
I’d like to buy grains from Zambia. Please may you inform me on how the Zambian market works.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
I think the term "composted manure" is supposed to refer to manure that's been let to rot, possibly with additives. I, too, cringe when I hear certain references to compost. My mother (just as I am) is from the UK originally, and the term "compost" there can refer to potting soil, which is so bizarre!
Glad to see you're still doing okay. As you indirectly but clearly state, a pragmatic approach to synthetic fertilizers and crop protectants is necessary when you are putting vegetables on other people's tables for profit and you do not have the benefit of an organic value chain to pay for the extra work required. A fully organic approach can be interesting to try in a distant set of paddocks you aren't relying on for your daily bread, but shouldn't be gone into all the way until you've worked out the kinks, or in fact ever if you don't necessarily want to. Personally, my approach (as just a gardener) will probably be organic except for fertilizers because I'm a devout coward and don't like to get too involved in chemicals that could poison me, and also don't mind feeding the ravens a bit.
All this reminds me I must go to my back garden again and try to right the tree I replanted that fell over, as well as scythe my lawn down, gather straw (as it's everywhere and I need to get the problem under control) and plant up more maize. It's still too early, but the cultivar of maize I have is claimed to be hardy enough to hold up to some frost. I cannot imagine there is much frost in Zambia (which would also prevent being able to cultivate such northern grains as cereal rye (Secale cereale), unless you had a spring variety that doesn't require chill hours)?
Is soil testing economically available there? It may help you make fertilizer decisions based on the available nitrogen in the soil or soil/compost mixture - a common yield issue some farms in the developed world have with grains is lodging, from over-manuring resulting in a nitrogen excess (which is similar to if you would apply an excess of ammonium sulfate or nitrate over a long enough timespan to not result in fertilizer burn) which results in the stalk growing too long and leggy and falling over.
The compost colour confusion is quite a thing. Before watching the section, the rationale behind it is that with more nitrogen, the rot is supposed to progress faster and in a way that is more beneficial. Then they put the nitrogenous heavy inputs under "greens" and the carbon-heavy inputs under "browns". (Upon watching, I discover you already covered this) For what it is, ammonium sulfate, a nitrogen-sulfur fertilizer, or ammonium nitrate, a nitrogen fertilizer, would constitute a "green" - although most gardening advocates of composting do not recommend using synthetic fertilizers in compost (which is bizarre as it would work). If you sell fodder to confinements or other animal-heavy operations that need fodder, you might consider asking them if they can supply you with manure from their animals? (There are options that exist for gardens only to be used for the gardener's consumption - I will not cover these in my commentary but I am sure you can imagine)
A thermometer with a long probe that goes up to 100°C can show you how hot the compost pile gets if you ever want to find out.
Offtopic, I'm sure, but I wonder if Coffea arabica would grow well there, to use as a conversation piece and to quench the coffee-thirst of your employees. However, I suspect it would need armed guards to avoid theft, as a high value product (in Canada, a kilogram of roasted coffee seeds can sell for approximately $25).
I think your fertilizer uses are perfect. The compost will continue to add to the soil for several years after applying. My only questions revolve around labor costs. In the videos i see lots of manual labor.
Thanks for sharing
Coming to join you brothers
Your pragmatic approach is commendable. I wonder what your opinion of 'Humanure' is, or would your stakeholders not approve 😬?
Having it accepted by stakeholders is quite a challenge.
For now, we will stick to animal manure, which is readily available and quite cheap.
hi thank you a lot , please i want to know are you using water once at every month you turn your compost? or we have to put water every day?
Thanks. I had to quickly check with Tyson, who tells me, "Yes."
We add water each time we turn. As we said in the video, water is needed for the decomposition process
The amount varies due to the season. We add more water in hot weather because of higher evaporation and less in the winter when moisture loss is much less.
I small back how will work perfect to stir the compost and for now can put shade cloth over it to keep moisture content
Thanks 😊
infant you lectures inspire always to visit you and Panuka in Zambia...... Ghanaians about to loose a brother to Zambians...
#Visit_is_Expected_Soon
🙏🏽
You have really built me ba chisha
That's great to hear.
All the best
Greetings a question would it be easier to turn the compose with a tiller to save time and labour?
Indeed
Ba chisha.......what do you think of the "compost" we find another saw mills? The rotten sawdust, can it be used?
Hi Ba Prudence. Yes, it could be used to improve the organic content of the soil. But it probably would not contain much nutrients.
That is why most composting methods add in some nitrogen.
What about pig manure, can it be used to add to the compost
Why do not cover the heaps of the compost when you are making? Am Ndagga Livingston from Uganda
Hi Ndagga. We have not found it necessary to cover the field compost heaps. Fortunately, we have managed to make quality compost all these years.
Is is compost better done in a shade with roof or open field where rain can beat?
The covered roof has advantages of climate control, but we find that the field compost heaps work well for us.
Especially to allow us to make the large quantities that we need.
@@mondofarms4343 excellent sir. Very educative post. More of that.
How about a training request at yo farms
Just one thing with the cost of fertilizer skyrocketing, you might want to start looking at profit per acre rather than total revenue and crop yields. Reducing the need for chemicals will benefit you and your business in the long run, otherwise spot on. If your input costs are manageable then keep on growing on.
Indeed.
Because your weather is so hot, the sun beats down your soil and dries it out easily. If you can, make a mulch with whatever you can get your hands on like straw cardboard perhaps leaves from trees like banana or plantain, that can help to keep your soil protected from the strong rays of the strong rays of the sun. If you have not already, look into permaculture, solutions for keeping the soil moist.
Indeed
insects pest destroy all my farm
Can you please show me what I can fight with I am far away in somalia Thank you
I'm sorry, we can't be of much direct help. I hope you can find an agronomist near you. Or at least an experienced farmer.
@@mondofarms4343 thank you for your help
Should i be worried about pests in the compost?
When the compost is cooking, the hot temperatures deal with insects.
But if you leave it after that, some insects can lay eggs in it. We find a few grubs from time to time, and that is why we treat our beds with insecticide before planting or transplanting.
But we haven't found pests in our conpost to be a very big issue.
It can go up to 60 degree centigrade
Indeed
Ba chisha.....whats your major plant?
We haven't yet tied ourselves to one crop. We grow a variety of crops at different times and in various fields.
I love your channel, from Namibia
Thanks so much
Grass is green and known as source of nitrogen and dry tree leaves are brown and is regarded as source of carbon? I am not a farm but thats what i learnt from youtube.
Yebbo