With the rising insurgency that has made it difficult for farmers to go to farm, food prices have surged, as demand now overshadows supply. This has spurred innovative ways for white collar jobbers who are interested in getting their hands into soil without endangering their lives to become farmers.
For example, some white collar farmers have embraced the innovative way of planting yams and have been doing so in their backyards. The new innovative way of planting crops, such as yams, in sacks can be a source of revenue for the employed, entrepreneurs as well as jobseekers in any part of the country.
Other crops, such as groundnut, beans, potato and so on, can as well be planted this way.
However, the method is currently popular with yam farming, although, other crop farming using this method are currently emerging day by day.
In starting your sack yam farm, first, you will need to get sacks to plant the yams. Cement sacks are ideal and the number of sacks you will need will depend on the number of yam you want to plant. For example, 20 yams will require 20 sacks.
Next, you need to wash the cement sacks properly. This is to remove any residue of cement in the sack. Cement contains chemicals that are hazardous to human health and ensuring that there is no residue of cement left in the bag is critical to the health of the yam and that of the people who will eventually eat it.
After washing the cement bags, spread them in the sun and once it is dry, fill it up to two third with soil that has been mixed with manure. Get your yam sets and place it in the cement bag. After placing it there, cover the yam set with soil.
You can attach strings to each sack for the yam tendrils to attach themselves to once the leaves sprout or you can use sticks. Wet each sacks with about two litres of water after every four days. The yam should start growing after three weeks.
Once the yam has grown for about two months, you can add fertiliser by putting a small amount into a bucket of water and sprinkle it on the leaves of the yam tuber. The yams will be ready for harvest between five to seven months.
This innovative way of planting would not only be a source of revenue, but help increase yam production and guarantee food sufficiency in the country.
Mr Ayodeji Shina who does this in his residence in Lagos says, the last time he did this in his compound, he harvested about 100 tubers of yam. This method, he says, could be adopted by anybody, especially, those who have a large compound, whether tiled or untiled.
This, he notes, is another side hustle that people should adopt, especially with the current yam price hike. Asides feeding his family, he has also sold part of it for more income.
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