Vegetables crops and leaves are one of the major daily consumed meals across the globe. It is highly demanded by all and it’s because of high nutritional value. It is one of the profitable farming businesses you can imagine and it grows almost all the time if good agronomic practices are followed. Access to quality seeds, knowledge of good agronomic practices to follow and market linkages are some of the challenges faced by vegetable farmers. IITA Business Incubation Platform partnered with Rijk Zwaan and Seedforth Agro and hosted a virtual Vegetable Field Day on Wednesday, September 30. The aim was to showcase varieties of vegetable and their market potential to farmers, and equip them with knowledge on crop management, good agronomic practices and where to source for quality seeds.
Rikj Zwaan is an organization known for quality and high yield varieties of vegetable seed. The organization breeds over 25 different types of vegetables including lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, sweet pepper, and cabbage. Varieties of the said crops are selected based on traits such as flavor, texture, consistency, production capacity, health and nutritional values. Seedforth Agro is the distributor of Rikj Zwaan seeds and farmers have been linked to them for access to seeds, market linkages and technical support services that can increase their yield.
The vegetable field demonstration happens on a yearly basis hosted by IITA BIP, where participants are taken on a tour of the green house where the vegetables are planted, and open field where the harvested crops are displayed and analyzed. This year’s demonstration was done virtually following a live video from the green house and open field at IITA and this was indeed amazing.
While enlightening participants on the crop management strategies for vegetable, Clement Onoja, Business Development Personnel, Seedforth Agro, mentioned factors that aid bacterial infection in vegetables and how they can be properly managed. Clement advised that in dealing with plant virus, the following methods can be used: eradicating the source, the control of vectors, breeding for resistance and the use of cross-protection. Also, he mentioned the different bacterial diseases in vegetables, how to detect and manage them. Miriam Samekpolo who leads the IITA BIP vegetable team mentioned different steps involved from choosing a good seed, land, setting up a greenhouse and the good agronomic practices that needs to be followed for maximum productivity.
According to Eugene Agricolo of Rijk Zwaan, Effective management practices for good quality and increased vegetable yield comprise must be followed and he emphasized on some such as the use of clean transplant, correct temperature and packing conditions during transport and storage and others. In addition to the crop management strategies, Eugene Agricolo spoke about the general procedure for raising good seedlings. “Raising seedlings/nursery involves making a good bed, using organic manure, having a good planting material and good dedication to the plants for good production,” Agricolo said. Also, he stated that to get a good market for the vegetables after production, looking out for demand and appropriate timing are key.
The event ended with interesting final thoughts from the breeders, agronomists and agribusiness specialists from host organizations. The team advised that farmers should source for market before production, use quality seeds, follow good agronomic practices and ensure they equip themselves with skills and knowledge needed to thrive.
IITA Business Incubation Platform is available for partnership and collaboration on vegetable production.