1.3 Land Preparation

• The meaning and importance of land preparation
• Land clearing
• Primary cultivation
• Secondary cultivation
• Tertiary operations
• Conservation tillage: zero and minimum tillage

• describe the activities of fallow land preparation to an appropriate seedbed
• carry out land preparation operations for a selected crop
• apply conservation tillage in crop production
• appreciate the importance of land preparation in crop production

“How does proper land preparation contribute to crop production?”

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1. The stages of land preparation
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Turning rough fallow land into a good seedbed through the stages of clearing, primary cultivation, secondary cultivation and tertiary operations - and why it helps crops.
2. Conservation tillage
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The harm heavy cultivation does to the soil, and the conservation-tillage practices - zero and minimum tillage - that grow the crop while protecting the soil.
3. Land clearing on Kenyan farms
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   How to open fallow land in practice: slashing, stumping, destoning and machines, what to do with residue, and why burning is a last resort on a Kenyan shamba.
4. Primary cultivation: ploughs and digging
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The first deep working of the soil with a jembe, ox-plough, mouldboard or disc, at the right depth and moisture, without bringing up subsoil.
5. Secondary cultivation and a good tilth
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Breaking primary clods into crumbs with harrows and hand tools, aiming at a tilth that is neither cloddy nor powder, matched to the seed.
6. Ridges, beds, furrows and basins
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Tertiary operations that shape a finished seedbed for a Kenyan crop: potato ridges, vegetable beds, planting furrows and dryland basins.
7. Hand, ox and tractor tillage tools
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Choosing tillage power for a Kenyan shamba: jembe and panga, ox-plough, tractor implements and hire, plus safety and conservation tools.
8. Timing land preparation with Kenyan rains
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Working backwards from the long and short rains so primary ploughing is early, the seedbed is ready at onset, and the crop is planted at the first effective rain.
9. Types of tillage compared
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   A scale of soil disturbance: conventional inversion, contour tillage, strip and minimum tillage, ripping, and zero tillage - chosen for slope, weeds and the crop.
10. Tillage, moisture, weeds and soil structure
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    What each pass of a plough or jembe does to water, weed seeds and crumbs - including plough pans - so the farmer tills enough for the crop and no more.
11. Conservation tillage on Kenyan shambas
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How a smallholder applies conservation agriculture: minimum disturbance, permanent cover and rotation, using a jab planter or hoe holes, and the real obstacles of livestock, weeds and neighbour opinion.
12. Preparing a seedbed for a selected crop
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The practical outcome: assess a Kenyan plot, choose tillage and finish for one crop - maize, kale, potato or dryland grain - and carry out only the operations that seed still needs.