What farmers say

Dear editor, 

I am a regular follower of your pullouts. I want to find out the right time to plant cowpeas in Uganda, especially Gulu. And secondly, where can I get high quality seeds from? I want to plant them this year.

Tekkwo Denis

Gulu

 

-You need to plant a fine seed bed and when there is enough moisture in the soil, this means that planting should be in the fairly wet season. 

 

-You need to plant at a least 6-9kg an acre, spaced 30x10. You also need to apply dap fertilizer before planting and top dress with urea. 

 

-You can also intercrop well with sorghum planted at the same time at a ratio of 1:1 in alternating rows at spacing of 60x20cms. 

 

-You will have to weed twice within two weeks after germination. You also need to spray three times, at flower bud formation, flowering and pod formation.  

 

-Most of the varieties mature between 70 to 85 days. 

-Lastly, there are good quality seeds from most of the agri-inputs stores in Gulu and Lira. 

 

Editor – I am looking for the gears for harvesting honey for my cousin who rears bees in Nawaikoke, Kaliro District. Kindly advise me where to get them from.

Charles Mpwabe Mugooda

Thanks for choosing the best methods of harvesting honey, away from the traditional ways of burning off the bees. However, I wonder why you have failed to find the right gear for harvesting honey. I know that there are several stores dealing in them in both Jinja and Iganga. You just need to increase your search.   

 

Editor – I have tried to search for seeds of chickpeas in vain.

Kindly help with information on where I can obtain chickpea. Thanks for the great weekly pull out.

Regards from Arua

Chickpeas are not a rare pea species so I wonder where you have searched and failed to find them. Have you tried the various farm input stores in Kampala such as the Container Village? 

 

Editor – I have planted a type of tomato called Assila that I first saw at a friend`s farm in Kakiri. However, I want to be clear on the main pests and diseases that may attack it. 

Abdul Wasswa, Matugga

 

Assila is resistant to the common tomato disease, the yellow leaf curl virus. However, it may be attacked by aphids, thrips, whiteflies, cut worms, boll worms, leaf miners, red spider, mites and nematodes. However, all these can be easily controlled if you weed the farm and use the right fungicides and pesticides that must have sulphur and blight copper as part of the chemicals.