By Joshua Kato
Land for growing maize should be prepared well in advance, using a tractor (for commercial farmers) which costs between sh100,000 to sh120,000 per acre.
In Uganda, most farmers use the hand hoe for preparing the farm, while others use the ox-plough, walking and big tractors.
The hand hoe is slow and less effective and not ideal for real commercial maize farmers. The Ox-plough is okay, however, it is not as effective as the tractors because they do not only open up larger parts of land, but also dig deeper into the fertile soils. Therefore, if you are a commercial farmer, you better use the tractor.
Fertilizers should be applied in order to make them sink in before the planting and to make sure that you plant immediately after the rains start.
