Farms as means of survival in most of wafrica.
Welcome to Nigeria where our land is majorly used for agricultural purposes we love farming. This is Africa, I know most people here will agree with me. And that's what we stand for..
image medium- Samsung Galaxy Prime+
I live in ibiono ibom, in the western part of Nigeri. The vast majority here depend for the most part on farming for their livelihood. We were from Mbiakpan and later moved in to Uyo, ibiono is today unofficially called Nigeria’s oil city after the discovery of oil in the Western region However there is no doubt that the advent of oil is transforming the city and also my beloved mbiakpan is in the core of the city so you can just imagaine how life there will be. Ibiono on the other looked somehow deprived but its looks quite ok. As a town boy who lived in the cities city, my moving to the Uyo was something I never expected. Even Regardless of whether I ought to , it shouldn't have been that time, hence farming work looked kinda new to me the very day we moved there. Honestly I really enjoyed the food we ate the very first day we moved in into our new house, every food stuff we purchased was fresh from the farm 100% natural and free from harmful pesticides. We eat 100% organic foods. Be it the likes of vegetables and even fruits. Imagine getting up each morning and having a warm water lemon juice OMG!!! That feeling😍.
Now To The Bussiness
It all started one Friday public holiday and my brother and I decided to take a stroll in the community on our way going we noticed that 1 out of 15 houses had farm in their backyard. Having all these into consideration I decided to practice a backyard farming just near our house. The piece of land I planned to use was quite bushy so I decided to clear the land and make it ready for farming. I plan of growing basic kitchen ingredients needed for cooking here in Nigeria thus the likes of; tomato pepper onion okra garden eggs ginger etc. Considering the size of the land we were able to clear I've decided to test how best I can achieve my mission to continue eating crops that are free from any toxic chemicals and 100% natural. So I would say I am on my way of making this reality come true since I have made the first step. Here are some pics of my cousin and I busily working on the land to make it ready.
Tools used
Cutlass
Hoe
Pickaxe(I used in place of Mattock)
Materials Used
Gloves - used as a PPE(Personal Protective Equipment) to protect my hands from sharp and pointed object.
Stick -Helped in the weeding procedure; thus used it to remove stones and other irregular objects away form the weeding area.
Sharpening Stone- used it to sharpen the cutting edge of the cutlass.
Challenges That I Encountered
The nature of weeds present
This is the #1 challenge I believe home gardeners face. Know the kind of weeds you’re trying to control. Some weeds may tend to be stubborn in nature.
Insects
Mostly these atom sized creatures wont let you smoothly do the work the way and manner you want. They will give you instant bite and leave you in anguish by their usual buzzing sound.
Weather
Nobody can anticipate or predict the climate. It’s not worth stressing about it. My advice to steemit users planning to go into farming is to start the weeding process early morning, there is nothing quite as pleasant as starting off your morning in the garden.
Physical Aspects
To cut things short, it wasn't easy as I expected it to be. The frequent bending to cut the weeds alone was a problem.
It seemed like I would never finish. The starting was kinda hectic, in fact it seemed like eternity. But to my suprise... within a twinkle of an eye, BHOOOOH!!! I managed to clear every one of the weeds. Will be waiting for couple of days to pass then follow up with the next adventure. Thanks to y'all for reading. Until then , see you in my next post.
Bellow are some pictures I took before and aftere the process.
image medium- Samsung Galaxy Prime+
We used farming as means of survival in most of the west africa.
Cocoa farm
Special thanks to all steem members and all my friends in the house.
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