Cocky Mokoka, an award-winning farmer and chairman of Agri-park, is passionate about nature, and using conservation farming methods.
Angie Khumalo, host of African Farming, visited his farm in Gauteng during the third episode of the show. He was a real inspiration to her, as he gave her a tour of his maize, soybean and sunflower crops, as well as his cattle.
“We don’t use growth hormones,” he said, “and we use various methods like crop rotation to ensure we look after our soil.”
He takes this task very seriously. “There are far too few farmers that apply methods that are good for the health of their land; we are killing our soil.”
Conservation agricultural systems such as minimal soil disturbance, soil cover and crop rotation have been used as an alternative to conventional tillage practices in order to reduce production costs and increase healthy soil conditions.
Khumalo interviewed Freddie Ndindana, technical sales representative of Corteva Agriscience, to talk about Mokoka’s farming strategy.
“If you use the principles of conservation farming, it is important to have a good understanding of the various types of ways to manage weeds, especially when your aim is to disrupt the land as little as possible. A farmer should know his fields and inspect it from every angle. A good herbicide can be sufficiently applied to control weeds whilst increasing crop yields and quality.”
When your seed is in the ground – and even before – you need the tools to protect its potential. Crop protection products from Corteva Agriscience give farmers such as Mokoka the power to fight weeds, diseases, insects and nematodes while keeping nitrogen in the root zone. They have a range of products to choose from and will help farmers find the right crop protection technology to maximize yield and improve profitability.
Their solutions fit the way farmers grow maize, offering dependability and application flexibility. Farmers know out of experience that when it comes to weed control, a one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it. That’s why the maize herbicides portfolio from Corteva Agriscience features powerful products with the flexibility farmers need to create the right program for every farm.
Just as for maize, Corteva Agriscience also has a range of soybean herbicides to ease farmers’ anxieties about weeds and help them to be better stewards of the land and improve their overall operation.
They provide farmers with the right mix of innovative crop protection products to help them produce healthy, high-yielding and profitable crops while strengthening customer relationships and ensuring an abundant food supply for a growing global population.
For information: https://www.corteva.co.za/
