Dear Readers, Welcome to the new year, which brings with it a lot of good prospects for Agri-preneurs. As we explore the diverse enterprises farming provides to us every day, particular focus shifts to Fruit production. Orchard establishment is an expensive affair. I am interested in sharing with you a few tips on how to establish your orchard and reap big from it before the real trees come to be. I introduce you to PERMACULTURE.
One of the biggest challenges to implementing orchards into impoverished communities is developing long-term goals for financial stability. Farmers do not have the ability to wait for several years before income is generated. Thus the long term planning to plant an orchard is rarely considered a viable option in these communities.
A diverse selection of long term varieties are planted at normal intervals with intermediate plants trees in between. The intermediate crops mature faster than the long term trees and will produce income within a few years. In between the rows of Intermediate crops and long term trees are cassava plants and a variety of native, nitrogen fixing short-season vegetables. This model incorporates immediate return (vegetables), intermediate (cassava and papaya) and long term (mangoes).
To minimize labor during the dry season, soil should always covered with nitrogen fixing plants, and the fruit trees be surrounded by an outer circumference of some cover grass. Vetiver (cover grass) with its deep roots, aids in water retention and organic matter building, which hastens the rate of growth for the fruit trees.
The design of the orchard is great example of how the permaculture method of layer farming can be implemented to a allow all layers of crops to be incorporated from groundcover to canopy and to short term and long term models for economic stability.
For more information: http://www.agrowingculture.org/outreach/
