Chapter 4 Establishment of Cash Crops

I for one am a firm believer that as soon the field were cleared and when free of all noxious growths the land ought to be planted up with cash crops.For a two acres orchard there are a huge number of crops to choose from. Should you be around the orchard most of your time. 

There are many short term crops to choose from.Like water  melons but this crop requires  a lot of insecticides and pesticides.This crop requires attention at all times especially when it were ripening.For it attract thieves not from the neighbors but from others.Because these are easily disposable items.

However, for quick return of some cash I like to suggest pumpkins,This crop has high nutrious values and presently there are a craze over this food item. People are beginning to consume more and more of this fruits of late for health reasons. Should this be unsold they can be kept at a cool place for a couple of weeks without going bad..

There, of course the sales of such fruits should not be dependent on middle man.They would exploit you to the fullest.This crop does require and tender care.Once the seeds were planted into the field they should flourish beautifully without special attention.Once established you cna expecta bountyful harves with five months or so.To this one of the easiest crop to plant as a cash crop in newly cleared fields.

The next crop I could suggest were the winter melons.Similar to pumpkins this winter melons can easily grown in newly cleared land Not much care required but should you insist on work, weeding of weeds around plants will definitely do a world of good,plus regular fertilizing.

As earlier suggested that pineapples could be planted along the boundaries, on the soil dug up  from the boundary drians.Pineapples also has a good market vbalue.There are few plantable types.All these seedlings can easily be purxhased from small holders who had planted pineapples before.It is extremely cheap.Should you not buy them they be discarded anyway.

The leaves of the growing pineapple can easily act as a fence.Along those rows along side can also plant sweet ppotatoes whose planting materials could easily be found every where and could be obtainable free of charge.In fact the whole newly cleared field could be planted with sweet potatoes. Some manual work necessary here as the crop requires topping up of plant with soil.

This crop could be planted after the poumpkkin harvest or so A rotation of cash crops in the orchard should be good and recommended.Many could plant dragon fruits along the boundary  instead of pinapples or plant both .A row or two of dragon fruits will surely deter thieves from entering the farm.With so many  planting materials  avilable a costly fencing were therefore unnecessary.

Like my friends land there were no necessity to fill up those lower lying land for he can either deepened those area turning them into fish ponds.When dry season came served as water catchment providing water for the main crop of fruit trees.These low lying fields can be planted with yam and extremely suitable,too.The yam easily fetched a good price nowadays.

In low lying field such crop such as the one in photograph sugar cane can also grow as another cash crop.The area were definitely fit for planting them. Sugar cane requires a lot of maintenance. Removal of dry leaves ,topping up of soil extra,removal of young shoots.

With the first cash crop still in place another cash crop like bananas could be planted in between those points for fruit trees.It should over shadow the first cash crop of pumpkins as soobn as harvesting of pumpkins completed.  These bananas would be especially good should you plant durian as they provide shades for the growing durians,shielding them from the scorching sun..The plants  also helps to slow down the velocity of any charging wind thus allowing the durian plants not to sway according the strength of the prevailing wind.

The common type people planted nowadays were the "Perangan: variety.Each stump cost about fifty cents each or even lesser in bulk.But when planting bananas as a cash crop why plant the ones established in others orchards.Pay slightly a bit more- purchased those plants that were produced by tissue culture.

Tissue cultured bananas  are better in all respects.The main one was that the bunches of bananas were regular all almost the same size in bunches as well as in sizes of single bananas.In fact it tasted better with longer in shelf life.Tissue cultured plants fare better against local pests and diseases.Well you are the farmer,make your choice.

Tapioca,a crop many shaun was another good cash crop because many believe this absolved  a lot of nutrions, randering the soil poor.Really not so I say.Anyway nutrions could be easily replaced with fertilizers,so why the hue and cry.It weas a crop which required no extensive care.