How farming is being done in my community and the different kinds of tools used

INTRODUCTION

Hello to my colleague steemians and those in the Steem Cameroon community. Steem Cameroon is a wonderful and amazing community, not forgetting @thegreens. With this two at hand, you’re always welcomed with amazing and eye catching contests.

The @thegreens together with @steem-cameroon has provided us with great opportunities where we can learn about climate changes and the environment and also share our various experiences.

Today I’ll be sharing with you my experience on how farming is done in my community and the difference types of tool used in the process.

HOW IS FARMING DONE IN MY COMMUNITY

Now before I begin to explain how farming is done in my community, I will like to explain some terminology before I begin.

Farming is an activity of growing crops and animals primarily for food.
Farm is a reserved piece of land where crops are grown or animal are been reared.

With this two explained, I can now proceed. Farming is the main source of livelihood in my community since about 80% of our population are involved in it. My community is located in the Northern part of Ghana called Salaga. Farming in my community is mostly done in small scale with only a few involved in large scale farming.

Most of the farmers grow their crops only to feed their families and the small portion left are sold out. Sometimes, some of the products from crops are used to feed the animals in animal farming.

Types of farming
Don’t get confused here. There are mainly two types of farming. Which is the Crop farming and animal farming

Animal farming
Animal farming is the activity where animals are reared for meats, milk etc. In my community, only the herbivores and omnivore animals are been reared.

Examples of the herbivores animals that can be located at my community is the goat, sheep and cow and also with the omnivore animals are only the birds. Anytime other than that will be difficult to find.

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HOW THEY ARE BEEN FARMED

Let’s talk about how the herbivores animals are been farmed first.

Herbivores Animals
The herbivores animals let’s say the cattle, they are farmed in the outskirts of the community in a fence mostly made from woods were they can be confined and paid attention to and with the others like the sheep and goat are mostly farm in an extensive system where they go out on their own to feed and later comes back to their coop.

They are also made to feed twice a day by grazing on the grass outside of their fence and later brought back. With time, these animals are been vaccinated against diseases so as to keep them health.

The matured male ones are used sometimes for farming activities example bulls etc. or been sold out for food and the females are been milked and also sold out.

Omnivore animals

The only omnivore that can be farmed in my community are the birds. Examples chickens, ducks and turkeys. This animals are also mainly farmed for their meat, eggs etc.

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HOW THEY ARE BEEN FARMED

The birds in my community are farmed in mostly an extensive system with only a few also in an intensive system with a lot of birds. Most of the birds been farmed are the chicken with only about less than 5% of farmer involved in bird farming.

The birds are kept in a coop for security purposes. With the extensive, the birds are brought out doing the day to allow them feed on little food particles and insects.

And with regards to the intensive, the birds are kept in a coop and a cage around it where they can only be free to roam around. They are been provided with food and water.

While keeping these birds, they are have to be vaccinated with time so as to prevent diseases like bird flu etc.

Products such as eggs and meats are very sold out or fed on.

Crop farming
It is the activity of growing crops that are later harvested for their products. Examples of crops farmed in my community are beans, yam cassava rice, vegetable.

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HOW CROP FARMING IS BEEN DONE

Crop farming in my community is mostly done in the raining season which last for about 6 months starting from March to August and with only a few involved in irrigation farming in the dry season.

When a farmer decides on what to farm, he searches for a suitable land rich with all the nutrients present in the soil. The land is been cleared after which, with the help of a cutlass and a pickaxe.

After that, the soil is loosen with the help of a hoe or Ox plough with small scale farms or a traitor with large scale farms.

When all these are done seeds are sowed or seedlings are been planted and watered on or wait for the rains. Fertilizers are allied to the soil to provide the crop with more nutrients.

When the crops matures, they are later harvested depending on the kind of crop grown and the produces are sold out, fed on or use to feed animals.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOOLS USED IN THE FARMING PROCESS

There are various type of tools used in the farming process.

The cutlassand pickaxe is used for clearing the land.
The sickle is used in the harvesting of rice.
Shovel is used to collect animal dumps.
The hoe is used to loosen the soil to aid aeration.
Traitors are used in large scale farming for loosening soil particles.

The above are the commonly used farm tools in my community.

CONCLUSION

Now that I am done explaining how farming is done in my community, I hope you find it interesting. Thanks to @steem-cameroon and @thegreens for organizing such wonderful contest.

@thegreens and @steem-cameroon together aims at good environmental practices and how to battle climate change.

The Greens is a grassroots environmental organization that strives to educate, inspire and engage young people to take action to combat climate change and be at the forefront of biodiversity conservation and waste management.

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Thank you for your time