Wet and Dry Season Rice Farming Experience

Hae Hive community,

Trust we are doing great? I want to share with us both my wet and dry season Rice Farming experience. It all began in 2021 when I eventually commenced rice farming in the community I worked in as a Medical Doctor. The Emir was gracious to grant me about a hectare of land to farm. Rice farming is usually planted on flooded soils or swampy area. My first rice farming was done some little distance from Shonga Community in Edu Local Government of Kwara, North Central Nigeria - West Africa. I had the land prepared by local farmers and booooom, I transplanted rice seedlings I bought from a farmer. It was very very discouraging when I learnt after 24hours of planting, in fact, we were not done with the entire transplant and, the lands were flooded. I was both sad and discouraged however, I didn't give up. I learnt a few lessons though: wet season farming should be done much early when the rains have not commenced fully (N:B, I transplanted from the nursery in late May when the rains had commenced fully and some farmers were already or near harvesting); a good understanding of the planting season is very essential, be readily available at the farm (especially for those not into farming as a major occupation) and lastly, farming is a risk, what is important is to make it a worthwhile risk.

You can imagine how discouraged I was yeah? Well, I prepared for dry season farming as I could control reasonably the amount of water that gets to the farm. I got another piece of land in Tada Village (not too far from the previous) I commenced the bed preparation of the seeds sometime in November and within three weeks, I did the transplant. The nursery was done on the same land to be used for farming (almost a hectare), well irrigated and boreholes were dug.

These boreholes are simple where the land is dug with a drill and a long pipe is inserted to reach the water bed and a generator is attached to pump the water to the surface for wetting of the farm. This is practically the mechanism of dry season farming. Here, you supply the water at intervals and regularly, you can regulate the amount of water that reaches the beds.
It was an interesting experience throughout the farming season as I had to visit the farmland often. I hired a farm supervisor (unfortunately was insincere) to negotiate with the local community and be readily available. I had 5 boreholes dug in strategic places especially the higher portions of the farmland to ensure the pumped water flows down easily to other parts of the land. The laborers hired were equally insincere as they neglected the farm once I was out of sight such as the need to chase birds that found it pleasurable to feed on the rice thus, reducing the yield. The weeding was not done early and also, not done well as some areas were weeded while some were left unattended to. Language barrier was also a disadvantage as the laborers were Hausas and hardly spoke English and hence, the need for an interpreter. The fertilizer application was done at its appropriate time though.

The harvest after about four (4) months barely yielded thirty (30) bags of a 100kg bag of rice. My total capital was roughly One Million Naira (about $1,300) and my yield was less than Four Hundred Thousand Naira (less than $500). And yes, I kept two bags at least two bags of rice for domestic consumption.

You will agree with me that I did not make the capital right? Yeah but, I got the experience of dry season farming and better prepared against future challenges when it comes to rice farming🤗.

I have explored other crops which I will be sharing some time later. It was indeed a good experience for me to have even tried in the first place despite the hitch I had during the first trial of the raining season. I hope we have learnt a thing or two.

I will appreciate your comments, contributions and some better guides as regards dry season rice farming.
Thank you

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