Can you imagine hand harvesting your corn crop? How about drying and storing corn in an orphanage? Farming in North America and farming in Africa do share some similarities such as crop type, but that’s about where the similarities end. It’s hard to even imagine a fraction of the challenges farmers face there. In this third installment of Rob Saik’s Agri-Treks adventure to Kenya, we learn more about the soil composition and land prices in this area, plus get a good look at corn and bean intercrops, dryland and drip irrigation corn and harvest and dry-down methods.
Moving out of one region, Rob’s camera captures the beauty of the Rift Valley, the birthplace of modern humans, and then shows us a tea plantation. Imagine if you planted once and harvested for over 80 years? It happens! Rob explains the life cycle of the tea “trees”, harvest methods, nitrogen cycling and how the farmers improve air flow in these dense-canopied crop. It’s truly fascinating stuff.
Click these links to see episode one (featuring amazing wildlife) and episode two (a closer look at life and the soil of near Lodwar) of this Saik’s Agri-Treks series.
If you cannot see the embedded video, click here.