Agriculture is good but when the conditions that enhance its success are readily available. Most people believe agriculture is a seasonal venture, because they think crops do well during rainy season.
However, with the new technologies and inventions, agriculture has outgrown that level. It is now a full fledged commercial and day to day business. The rainy season used to be the known agricultural season by the virtue of rainfall during this period.
No doubt, no amount of irrigation facility would be like rainfall, rainfall wakens the soil. It gets it prepared for work, farming. But at times it may be detrimental to crop. This damage was insignificant during the olden days because they used to practice subsistence farming but nowadays, agriculture is now commercial and any loss is a big one.
The change is climate has greatly affected many farmers and it has brought their business to a point of moribund. The distribution of rainfall can no longer be predicted and guaranteed.
Below are the problems most farmers are likely to face this rainy season and you will all agree with me.
• HIGH DISEASE INFECTION INCIDENCE: Most of all the disease pathogens (bacteria, fungi and virus) are rampant during the rainy season. Moist environment favours disease and pest attack, farmers are likely to lost 70% of the farm produce to a particular disease because it is easily transmitted from one plant to another by the rain water if care is not taken.
• LOSS OF NUTRIENTS FROM THE TOP SOIL: The top soil is the portion of the soil where nutrients are available. During heavy rainfall, the water causes erosion. Erosion is the washing away of the top soil and nutrient, this makes nutrients unavailable for the plants and thereby reduces yield. On the other hand, the nutrient can be leached from the top soil to the underground water.
• YELLOWING OF PLANT LEAVES: Plant leaves turn yellow for three reasons,
1. Lack of nitrogen, this is called chlorosis.
2. Inadequate water, this is termed as physiological wilt.
When there is excess water present in the soil, it causes the roots of the plant to rotten, turning the leaves of the plant yellow.
• STUNTED GROWTH: For growth to take place in plant, photosynthesis must take place because. It is this process plant manufacture their food. One of the conditions for photosynthesis is sunlight. Considering this present weather, the rate of sunlight is relatively low compare cloudy. The downpour outweighs the sunlight. This makes the plants have slow growth rate.
• HIGH COST OF LABOUR: During rainy season, there is blossom of weeds. Weed are threat to plant survival as they compete with the plant for space, nutrients and water. Weeding must be done fervently during rainy season, this adds additional cost to the cost of production.
These are the problems farmers are likely to encounter during rainy season.
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