Showing You The Real Power of Mixed Cropping, Yam and Maize.

I had to compress my video a bit more because upload was acting up. Apologies if this particular one is not as clear as the usual ones. I'll try and fix it

Hello friends on Steemit, I'm back to share another video and teach a good farming lesson that would go a long way to save someone from huge loss.

Speaking of losses, I did mention in my video that there were floods in certain regions in Ghana, especially Accra, around Circle and other places.

A lot of damages and roads getting blocked. In situations like this, it's a smart drainage system that would have saved the city.

If we translate that to agriculture, there are smart moves you can make to avoid certain losses, not just rains and disasters.

Most farmers will specialize on a particular crop or even on a single piece of land which even though looks like a good thing to do with humble beginnings, it's not wise to stay at that level.

A farmer will be solely a maize farmer or cassava farmer and think that they're getting good at farming. Because he does not maximize the use of his land, in the event of a heavy down pour or when pests come to attack his crops, he can lose all his investment within a single day.

Instead of doing that, he can use a smart strategy to exploit soil potential, and one of such strategy is to work with mixed crops.

These crops can be yams and maize, two crops that also grow very well together.

First, the vines of the yam plants are given support to grow upwards towards the sun. This is done by putting the vines around dry tree stakes. So while the yam vines are climbing up, the maize is planted in the mounds of soil in between, to exploit the space left empty after planting the yam vines.

For the farmer there is a lot of added value. The two plants together are better than one single plant on a piece of land. This will help the farmer to make better use of his land, the plants will be able to grow to their full potential.

That's not all because the soil also gains from it, since different plants take up different nutrients, the soil does not get weak quickly.

With the method of mixed crops the farmer also guards his investment. Maize for example can fall victim to a disease but the yam will still be edible for the farmer and his family and also will be able to be sold on the market.

Using mixed crops is simple one of the best ways for farmers to maximize profits off of the land they have, to take more value from their plots.

No doubt it would demand a bit more effort in the initial preparation, but then there are double the gains for the farmer. All the different variety of foods grown on that single plot can feed a family during harvest time. I would say it’s a clever practice for local farmers to employ in their gardens.