#burnsteem25//BEST SOIL FOR GROWING DIFFERENT CASH CROPS

Best soil for growing cash crops.

Cash crops are agricultural crops that are planted for the purpose of selling on the market or for export to make profit, as distinguished from subsistence crops planted for the purpose of self-supply of the farmer (like livestock feeding or food for the family).
Note, there are typically food and non- food cash crop.
Examples of typical food and non-food cash crops are cereals, oilseeds, coffee, cocoa, sugar cane, peanuts, cotton,jute and rubber.

BEST SOIL FOR THE CULTIVATION OF THE MENTION CASH CROP:

Maize (Zea mays)
The ideal soil for growing corn is well-drained, preferably a sandy loam. Organic matter such as compost, leaves and grass clippings can be added to soil to improve its overall quality and improve drainage, particularly for heavy clay soil. Corn grows best in soil with a pH between 5.8 and 6.8

Wheat (Triticum)
Wheat grows best in a well-drained loamy soil. Wheat grows best between pH 5.5 and 7.5.

Rice(Oryza sativa)
Clay or clay loams are most suited for rice cultivation. Such soils are capable of holding water for long and sustain crop. Rice being a semi-aquatic crop, grows best under sub-merge conditions. Rice is cultivated in almost all types of soils with varying productivity. The suitable soil pH for rice cultivation is at pH 6 [22], which is uncommon in acid sulfate soil [5]. Acid sulfate soil contains high concentrations of Al3+ and Fe2+ in an environment which can be toxic to plants [9].

Oil seed
Examples of oil seed-
Sunflower (Helianthus).
Rapeseed(Brassica napus)
Castor(Ricinus communis)
Groundnut(Arachis hypogaea)
Soybean(Glycine max)
Sesame(Sesamum indicum)
Mustard(Brassica nigra)
Linseed(Linum usitatissimum)
Olive(Olea europaea)
The above mention oilseed crops.
Clay loams, deep black soils and alluvial soilsare best suited for its cultivation.

Coffee
Coffee can be grown on many different soil types, but the ideal is a fertile, volcanic red earth or a deep, sandy loam. Yellow-brown, high silt soils are less preferred. Avoid heavy clay or poor-draining soils. Most soils on the Bolovens Plateaux are volcanic red earths suitable for coffee. It prefers a soil with pH of 5 to 6.

Cocoa(Theobroma cacao)
Cocoa trees can be grown a wide range of soils. Cocoa trees are predominantly cultivated in red laterite soils. However, these trees prefer well drained clay, loam or sandy loam soil with pH range of 6.5 to 7.0. Water retaining soils are best for its optimum growth and yield.

Sugar cane(Saccharum officinarum)
A well-drained loamy soil with neutral soil reaction (pH 6.5 to 7.5) and adequate nutrients and without soil compaction is considered an ideal soil for sugarcane production.

Cotton(Gossypium)
Cotton grows best in soil with a pH between 5.8 to 8.0. Yield decreases are usually not severe until the soil pH drops below 5.5 to 5.2 on sandy loam and silt loam soils respectively, or above 8.5 for western irrigated soils in the USA. When the soil pH falls beyond this range, soil amendments are recommended.

Jute(Corchorus)
Jute can be raised on all kinds of soils from clay to sandy loam, but loamy alluvial are best suited. Laterite and gravel soils are not suitable for this crop. The new grey alluvial soils of good depth, receiving silt from the annual floods are the best for jute cultivation. The optimum pH isaround 6.4.

Rubber(Hevea brasiliensis)
Rubber is grown in literate or loamy soil, mostly in slope and undulated land or slightly high elaborated flat land where there is no possibility of water stagnation, and having well drainage facilities. Rubber tree plants do best in soil with a slightly acidic pH. pH between 5.5 to 7.0.

Oil palm.(Elaeis guineensis)
Deep, well drained medium loam soil, rich in humus is the most suitable for oil palm cultivation. Optimum soil reaction is from pH 6.5 to 7.5.