Oupa speaks to us about Maize Planting

*This blog post was taken from an interview with Oupa. View the full video on our Facebook page*

This is another year that we begin our planting season for maize. And as you can see behind me already this is the land. You can see also the planters working. And most importantly you can also see the land that's been worked. There's still some maize stalks left in the lands and there's a reason for that. Most of the time what we're saying is we need to protect the land and we need to make sure that the moisture is there when we have to plant. And you can see just behind me the soil is right, the moisture is right, and that is why we plant now in October. It's actually the right time for planting maize. You've got like an open gap and within that gap you have to plant because otherwise then you're gonna lose. So you've got a gap here between October and then you have to until December. I will say maybe by the 15th then you need to have planted all your seed in the ground. Otherwise then you're actually late. And also what matters most is timing in farming because that is equal to yield. Otherwise if you don't do so you're gonna definitely be losing on yield, and also you're gonna be affected by frost and some other factors that will affect you from producing as much because it's all about the yield. Yield counts a lot in this game. And now as you can see also behind these this is what is called the Integral planter. You can see it's not like the other planters we use. And there is a reason why. You know because as I said everything is about precision. You need to be effective and you know and also be on time.

So this is why when that period that I said. When it opens you must actually fall within it and make sure that within that period you have done your job. That is the reason why now as you can see then this is a twelve row planter. Yes, the machinery is expensive, but the accuracy that you get from it, it's unbelievable. As you can see, there is only the driver and the planter. That's it, you don't have someone checking whether your fertilizer is getting in or whether your seedling is getting right into the soil. Everything is actually accurate and is done accordingly on the machine. And you've got the monitor in your tractor that tells you and everything is just there. And that's what you need. You need actually to be point on with your planting. And at the end of the day, that's what you need. And that is all about time. When you can manage time, and that's what it’s all about in farming, because what needs to be done today has to be done today. Tomorrow is too late because it could be forced, it could be too wet, it could be some other effects or factors that can hinder you from planting or doing what you wanted to do. So that's why we doing what we do. And we work the way we work because we allow, when nature took its course, we also there and coming with the plants and be proactive in terms of the ways of how to manoeuvre and continue doing what you love doing, which is farming, which is our game. The soil itself you can’t leave open, it must be covered. You need to protect the nutrient data in the soil, organisms that are in the soil, the moisture that is in the soil. So now you need actually to cover your soil. And the nice thing about these plant as you can see, they can work on those conditions.

And the reasoning behind that as well is we must remember the soil has been given to us by God. And we have to look after it because it's actually alive, and it produces according to how you look after it. You don't have to kill it, you don't have to work against it. You have to work with it and understand that the soil needs to feed it. And also it's for the next generation to come. It's for our children. Because if you don't work good with this soil, what is it gonna be left for our children? Our children- they will have nothing left and then they will have nothing to plant. Because at the end of the day we've got nothing to feed the nation, and how we feed a nation is by producing from the soil. Thank you.