Onion Farming in Zambia: 2022 Update 3 (Apr 16): How our Rain Season Onion had a Very Rough Start

Having decided to make onion one of the primary crops at Winterthorn this year, we decided to start as early as possible. We transplanted our first ever rain season onion crop in mid-February 2022 at our Dubai field.
And boy were we in for a tough time over the next few weeks!!!
This video shares the story of how we planned and prepared the beds and blocks for the crop of Starke Ayres red creole onion. It then shares the various challenges with weeds and insects we then faced, and how we eventually learned our lessons and started to overcome them.

[@gideonnyirenda5082]

Thank you for sharing the REAL picture of what happens on the farm to produce those good onion bulbs. Very insightful!

[@mondofarms4343]

Our pleasure! You're most welcome.

[@Mfzambia]

Thanks Mondo Farms for share a useful program about onion farming

[@mondofarms4343]

You are most welcome

[@EMT_Official]

Good to see videos on both successes made and challenges faced. Brings out the true picture of the actual farming on the ground. Just knew Mondo Farms channel a few weeks ago, and I am so far finding it interesting as someone who wishes to start investing in farming in the near future.

[@mondofarms4343]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@amonmusamvu9929]

Best informative rain fed onion video. Learnt a lot. Thanks a lot. Keep it up

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks a ton

[@chishimbakamba9675]

This is very educational Thank you for showing us the ups and downs that come with farming

[@mondofarms4343]

Most welcome Ba Chishimba. Farming can be challenging, but also very rewarding.

[@nathandaka2936]

So inspiring

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks Ba Nathan

[@fredkunda2616]

Thanks for sharing with us the challenges of planting onions in the rain season. Any videos on the storage sheds

[@mondofarms4343]

Will do soon

[@eliaschinyanta2365]

Awesome work!

[@mondofarms4343]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@allcreationandnature447]

this is really inspiring. what is the space of the drip holes?

[@mondofarms4343]

The drips are 40cm spacing

[@evanskaonga1679]

Am learning very interesting

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks for watching

[@kennethmwangi7521]

I am passionate about farming too but i know it is not for the faint hearted! Kudos! Amazing i seem to understand some of the words in your local language, must be a Bantu language...i come from the Kikuyu community in Kenya 🇰🇪

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks 👍

[@sandrachimwara8522]

So inspiring l learnt a lot

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks for watching

[@peterchisenga6908]

Thanks, I learn a lot here. Hoping to visit Mondo farms one day

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks Peter

[@tshumbalouissiamayuwa7137]

Is the nursery on raised beds? How do you control excess moisture in the rainy season

[@mondofarms4343]

Indeed

[@felixlisulo2964]

l like this

[@mondofarms4343]

You're welcome

[@dadaharawa3613]

Thanks

[@mondofarms4343]

Welcome

[@frankmbamba5399]

Very inspiring what a way to do 😊just asking for your opinion during transplant of the onion from the nursery bed to main field is it necessary to to cut the plants as some advice as is to preserve water content or just to transplant the directly???would like to hear your opinion.Once again great job outside there 🙏

[@mondofarms4343]

No, we don't bother cutting them. Farming is like cooking... Everyone has their own way of doing things. That's why on our channel, we try not to criticise others. Katwishi

[@mupulamusumali7438]

Wow this is so so inspiring and true definition of teaching.. sir do you allow farm visits?

[@mondofarms4343]

Not really. We established this KZbin as our way of helping as many others as possible in a convenient and realistic way. . We get a lot of requests for visits to the farm each week, and if we allowed them, work would be impacted.

[@ernestcsinyinza]

Yet another inspiring journey there. May I ask what type of pump you are using for irrigation?

[@mondofarms4343]

We have various pumps around the farm in different areas.

[@khumbichirwa]

This is commendable. What fertilisers are recommended and the intervals?

[@mondofarms4343]

I hope you have continued watching our other videos and seen some of the answers to your questions in them.

[@tendaifumbauta8942]

Is there a video update for the Red creole in this video. I have tried to search for it, i would like to find out how the harvest for the onion that provided you with many challenges went.

[@mondofarms4343]

Yes we covered the harvest in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooa0ZI1mpamfhpo

[@tendaifumbauta8942]

@@mondofarms4343 Thank you so much!

[@ganiwithvenky2984]

I am also growing cucumber and beans in ur style sir

[@mondofarms4343]

Wow. That is great to hear. Good Luck to you.

[@mwansageorge3603]

Was the harvest good since the transplanting was done in rain season. what about the bulb size? did you face a lot of fungi?

[@mondofarms4343]

Hi there. I hope you stayed on our channel and watched more of the updates we shared about that same crop. If not, pls watch Update 6 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqDHmZuomNuHmdE And Update 8 kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooa0ZI1mpamfhpo

[@MakandeMpambalika]

So presanterble from malawi

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks 😊

[@mwewashamende4790]

Can you please make a video on your fertiliser program for your onion?

[@mondofarms4343]

Hi Mwewa. First of all, we really appreciate you as one of our most ardent subscribers. its always good to hear from you. But listen, what you are asking for is not really what this channel is about. There are hundreds or thousands of other videos on KZbin that show how to do xyz in farming... We're not about that. Ours is about sharing the journey. The good, the bad, the happy and the sad, as we say. We try to inform viewers while at the same time entertaining them. Hope that helps answer your query. KR CLF

[@dadaharawa3613]

So what is the correct herbicide content in a napsak sply(20litres).

[@mondofarms4343]

Hi there. It is impossible for me to answer that question. Each herbicide has its own application rate. Pls read the label carefully and consult an Agronomist. All the best

[@1ntuthukozwane]

What language is that you are speaking. It sounds a little bit like Zulu. Manzi = water. And I thought I heard bheka and funa = want or looking for. Think I understand some of what you are saying.

[@mondofarms4343]

Hi there. In Zambia, our lingua franca, spoken in most urban areas for easy communication is "town" nyanja, which is from our Eastern province. Many of the tribes there moved up from what is now SA during the mfecane. So the languages we speak are quite similar and to most South Africans, words are recognizable. Same for us when we come down there. It's the clicking that we struggle with 😉😉 All Bantu languages have commonalities due to their common roots all those centuries ago.

[@1ntuthukozwane]

@@mondofarms4343 I see. NYANJA people are Zulu in origin. Just like Chewa = Shabalala or Godo - same as Tswana/Kalanga. Nyanja = Njanya bore the Mambo/Mkhize/Kisii, Mpoto/Manala/Ndaba/Ndzambi/Zambi and Mpondomse/Mambo-Dumisa and Xesiba/Xasiba (who are the mainline Zulus) called Tembe/Mthembu/Mathebula or Thonga/Thanga or Ndongo. Ndongo and Matamba is the Kingdom that came from LUNDA-LUBA (Congo-Basin) that was based in Angola that came with the Portuguese to Mozambique where we broke up and became known as Zulus, Xhosa Ndebele, Venda, Tswana, Pedi, Sotho, Tsonga etc. These were all the same Kingdom from 600AD to about 1600s, where the Zulu Royal Family came to South Africa.

[@beiindackapampa3270]

Is this hybrid or ordinary?

[@mondofarms4343]

The red creole we grew is an OPV

[@VanessaTembo-f7v]

How many beds can make 500 potches

[@mondofarms4343]

Vanessa, that's a good question. You have to divide the yield per bed by the size of the pouches you are using. But in reality, it's a bit more complex, especially since the Zambian marketeers wants onion pouches to be oversized.

[@ganiwithvenky2984]

Hi sir I'm from India Karnataka

[@mondofarms4343]

Greetings

[@muhammedjarju439]

What’s expected yield per hectare?

[@mondofarms4343]

Hi there. Please have a read of previous comments on how we handle issues of publishing such numbers on social media as a business. Take care and thanks for watching.

[@felixlisulo2964]

please this is good how i get in touch?

[@mondofarms4343]

Our contacts are readily available on our Facebook page and on our website. We have a lot of people contacting us each week.

[@felixlisulo2964]

@@mondofarms4343 Thanks so much i have learnt a lot from your videos please i want to be like you in future i will contact you through your Facebook. Stay blessed

[@ganiwithvenky2984]

I am watching every video message for me

[@mondofarms4343]

Thanks

[@ShadrickMwaba-o1v]

Hello

[@mondofarms4343]

Greetings

[@nicodemshello163]

When you want😂 to cultivate any crop the owner of the the farm must be the one who knows every thing about that crop 😂

[@mondofarms4343]

Indeed. I find it hard to succeed at things I don't know much about.