By Saintly Ngwenya
We can define early planting as planting of seasonal crops when the season is still in its infancy. Most farmers are reluctant to employ this practice mainly for the reason of trying to ascertain the course of the season. However, those who embark on early planting have their fair share of advantages which include, but not limited to:
- Reduced attack of the crop by seasonal diseases and insects as they will be still on their dormant stages in their life cycle.
- Strong crop establishment – this allows the crop to grow to its full potential utilising all the available resources thereby increasing the yield potential.
- Higher ability to escape weeds pressure as they would be still developing when the crop has already passed the most susceptible stage.
- Higher returns as the farmer can sale the produce when it is in low supply and also increased time to sale the produce.
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