Cabbage benefits
Cabbage vegetable is among the most consumed vegetable in Kenya. It can be fried, boiled or cooked a salad. Cabbage has both nutritional and economic value in that it has a lot of nutrients to help the body fight diseases.
Cabbage can be sold as cash crop because of its high demand at schools, hotels markets and supermarkets.
Economic potential of cabbage vegetable
cabbage vegetables are grown from seeds and their requirements include
- land 1 acre-leased at approx (10,000)
- Labour-10,000
- Farm equipments including seeds and fertilizer (5,000)
- Chemicals-3,000
- Transport-10,000
- Total=38,000approx
one acre of land can produce cabbages up to ten thousand heads which costs 20 Kenyan shillings to 30 Kenyan shillings per head.
10,000×20=200,000
Profits=162,000approx
Planting process
seeds are bought from your nearest Agrodealer. Prepare a good nursery bed with fine soil and you can also mix farmyard manure to the soil.
Plant seeds on the nursery on even furrow-like lines. Normal caring of the nursery bed by irrigation and weeding up to 4 to 6 weeks when the cabbage seedlings can be transplanted continues.
The land to be transplanted to should be ploughed and made free from weeds. Cabbage requires well-draining soil and enough sunlight areas. Make furrow ridges on the land and ensure spacing between the seeds.
Add farmyard manure to the ridges and cover the seedlings firmly with soil.
The rows should be well spaced and on even lines. regular irrigation when there is less or minimum rainfall continues wedding also continues to allow the cabbages to grow and mature.
After about three months when the cabbage heads mature, harvesting time is now ready this varies according to cabbage varieties and conditions of growth.
Harvesting
harvesting cabbage is one time process where cabbages are uprooted heads cut off and packed on fresh areas free from direct sunlight.
Cabbage market is always readily available all you need to do is a harvest cabbages pack on a truck and a transport to the countrywide ready markets available in your suitable area.
Important farm practices tips
weeding: This is getting rid of unwanted plants that grows alongside planted crops and compete with them for nutrients and water, they also harbour pest and diseases which might be harmful to plants and also reducing the yields.
Nutrition: nutrients helps plants in good growth and high yields there are various fertilizers types that can be added to plants, they include the basal,foliar through the macro and micro nutrient elements
Basal fertilizers; these are available in Argostores countrywide they include DAP,CAN,NPK and UREA.
Manure; these are nutrition added to soil to increase nutrients they include animal droppings and decomposed Waste from grass and plant waste.
sheep goats and cows waste can be dried to make manure then added to soil to add nutrition decomposed waste can also be added to the soil to provide maximum nutrition to plants.
manure is widely used and available in Kenya with cheap price.
Irrigation:this is a common practice by farmers especially in areas that receive minimum or no rainfall at all. It has proved to be an effective method in crop production especially in semi-arid areas like Perkerra irrigation scheme in Marigat area Kenya. High-yielding crops are produced in this area with irrigation practice.
Types of irrigation method include.
- Drip irrigation
- Canal irrigation
- Overhead irrigation
Mulching: this is a practice of adding materials like grass Waste or husks on nursery beds or on top of root seedlings covered by soil after planting.
Mulching helps to conserve moisture in the soil as it reduces evaporation of water from the soil, mulching helps to suppress weeds also. When mulching is done soil gets exposed to minimal sunlight hence discourages the growth of unwanted plants called weeds.
This practice is effective on nursery beds and newly transplanted crops.
Pruning: some plants develop Overgrown branches, buds and also yellow or withered leaves, it is important to pluck off these leaves and branches to make a clean plantation and also to reduce infection to other leaves which may occur with infected or withered leaves.
