Vanguard, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014—23
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Cassava Yield of 25 tons per hectare and above can be obtained with good agronomic practices and management. Therefore, every step must be taken seriously in the process of planting your cassava.
& YOU
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Post-planting weed control Where a total herbicide was not used before land preparation for cassava plantation, it is recommended that a selective pre-emergence herbicide be applied within three days after planting. Five litres of Primextra is recommended per hectare. Fertilizer use, type and rate The following fertilizers and their rate per hectare are recommended: NPK 15:15:15–12 (50 kg) bags; NPK 20:10:10–9 (50 kg) bags; NPK 12:12:17–15
A total herbicide (glyphosate) should be applied to the land where you want to plant
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(50 kg) bags Apply fertilizer 8 weeks after planting your cassava. Apply fertilizer in a ring, 6 cm wide and 10 cm from the plant or broadcast with care around the cassava plant, making sure the fertilizer does not touch the cassava stem or leaves. Production cost of cassava per hectare Land preparation - N10,000.00 Cassava cuttings (60 bundles @ N300/bundle) - N18,000.00 Planting (4 person at N1000/ day) - N4,000.00 Pre-emergence herbicides (5 litres at N1000/l) - N5,000.00 Fertilizer (20:10:10, 9 bags at N2500/bag) - N22,000.00 Insecticides (2 litres at N1000/l) - N3,000.00 Application of herbicide N3,000.00 Application of insecticide N3,000.00 Application of fertilizer (4 persons at N1,000/day) N4,000.00 One weeding (10 person at N1,000/day) - N10,000.00
% Change -1.07
Harvesting (15 person at N1,500/day) - N17,500.00 Total - N100,000.00 Note: Fixed capital investments are not included. Such capital investments include knapsack or boom sprayers, tractors or power tillers, stem cutters, planters, and harvesters. With planters and harvesters, manual labor use can be minimized. Also, labour wage rates vary with location. Yield Cassava Yield of 25 tons per hectare and above can be obtained with good agronomic practices and management. Therefore, every step must be taken seriously in the process of planting your cassava. This means that at an average export price of $300 (about N55,000) per ton, one hectare of cassava can fetch more than N1.4 million. Note: To reduce cost of production and attain high yields, it is recommended that land preparation be fully mechanized. A power tiller can be used if the total land area under cultivation is not more than 250 hectares. Ogun State government has made conscious efforts to make land available cheaply for serious minded farmers in the state. In fact, an hectare of land can be leased for cassava farming for N5,000 yearly in the state. Governor Ibikunle Amosun, at the last Ogun State Investors' forum, said: "Having realised that land is a key factor for meaningful agricultural development, our administration has allocated over two hundred thousand hectares of land to willing investors in agriculture at a minimal cost. Also, in order to compliment available acquired agricultural land belonging to the government, the state government is taking steps through collaboration with host communities to make more agricultural land available for large scale commercial farming."
Are you skilled in giving excuses in your organisation? BY ‘UJU ONWUZULIKE “No one ever excused his way to success”…Dave Del Dotto HE truth about life and business is that when we are not doing what we ought to be doing for ourselves or for our businesses, others are doing them. It is surprising to know that many people have not realized that life does not reward intentions without actions. More often than not, our natural proclivity is to give ourselves permission to say what we want to do or intend to do but fail short of carrying them out. Some individuals and employees in organizations who procrastinate and at the same time give excuses for poor performance are being unfair to themselves and their organizations. This is because they are shortchanging the growth of their organization to their own peril. Most people are caught in web of excuses majorly because they have not been measuring themselves based on results. They have not been measuring their input based on the result the organization is getting. As a matter of fact, some do not even care to know what is going on in their organizations as long as they are being paid as at when due. We should begin to measure our successes or failures based on the results we generate either for ourselves or for our organizations. Measuring success or failure as a function of results basically means that we are taking a tough, end point approach to self-evaluation.
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Funny enough that is how the world has been measuring us. No one or an organization can set its own rules or laws; the world, the customers and even the shareholders have set the rules. And importantly, they have the ability even without our permission to enforce them on us. If we are to start measuring our lives based on results that
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sava planting rate by replacing dead or nonviable stems.
Change ($) -0.79
We should begin to measure our successes or failures based on the results we generate either for ourselves or for our organisations
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will make us to stop giving or taking excuses from other people. The truth is that anyone when given an opportunity can come up with one excuse or the other for poor performance. I have been a proponent of running one’s organizations as if it is one’s business. This is because having ownership thinking helps us to do more and equally go the extra mile for our organizations. So you can see that most excuses we give some times are based on the fact that the organization does not belong to us – and we don’t have a stake, but we seriously do.
Again giving excuses do not only affect our organizations but also ourselves in that it makes us losers. Because losers do not normally take actions when they should, and remember when you are not taking actions, others are taking. It is also the same thing as saying when we do not treat our customers’ right, our competitors are ready and eager to put smiles on their faces – and ultimately grab them from us. Make up your mind to quit giving excuses and take well defined actions. Remember the time honoured formula: Be, Do, Have. Meaning BE committed, DO what it takes, and you will HAVE what you want. Instead of making excuses, resolve within yourself to take the first step, make the effort and be persistent in the pursuit of your goals. Your life should be filled with victories and rewards. If you are losing, that means somebody else is winning, so you know that winning happens. It might as well happen to you, but it’s not going to happen by accident. It will happen because you made it happen. It will happen because you know what you want and move towards it in a strategic, consistent, meaningful, purposeful manner. Take action, and insist on results and avoid excuses. You and your organization will be better for it. Uju Onwuzulike, Partner, Haines Centre for Strategic Management (USA) CEO, Mentoring Consult Limited. Email: uju@hainescentre.com Mobile: 09091142093 www.hainescentre.com C M Y K