Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 13.3.
Costs of
Uapaca kirkiana
seedling production.
Type of input
Costs (ZW$/seedling)
a
Seedlings
Labour
Collecting fruits
b
0.03
Extracting seeds
0.12
Treatment of seeds
0.12
Soil collection and transport
0.13
Filling tubes and seeding
c
0.36
Transport
0.04
Watering
8.01
Weeding
0.22
Other labour (e.g. standing pots upright, etc.)
1.90
Material inputs
Fruit
0.00
Soil
0.00
Water
0.00
Tubes
0.25
Non-grafted seedling costs
11.17
Costs per orchard of 35 seedlings (ZW$/orchard)
391.0
Grafting
Labour
Collection of scion material
8.29
Grafting
1.81
Costs of grafting per seedling
10.10
Costs per orchard of seven trees
70.7
Seedling plus grafting costs per orchard (ZW$/orchard)
461.7
Seedling plus grafting costs per tree survived
d
92.3
a
Valued at 1999 ZW$ (Dec. 1999 US$1 = ZW$38 ). These figures take the germination rate
of 80% into account.
b
Three seeds per fruit.
c
Space requirements 1 m
2
/100 tubes.
d
Orchard of five trees.
Source: Mithöfer (2005): Labour requirements according to J.A. Maghembe (World
Agroforestry Centre, Malawi, 1999, personal communication) and own information, valued at
the average wage rate of Murehwa, derived from the socio-economic survey.
grafting success rate of 70% for a skilled grafter (Mhango
et al.
, 2002), a farmer
initially has to produce 35
U. kirkiana
seedlings in order to have an orchard of
five grafted trees. If costs of planting the seedlings and labour for protecting
them with a fence are included in initial investment costs, initial investments
amount to ZW$234 (labour ZW$142, materials ZW$92) per surviving tree.
7
High costs of seedling production are mostly due to high labour costs and even
more so due to the low rate of seedling survival.
Farmers perform few management tasks on naturally grown IFTs. The trees
are pruned at the end of the dry season to allow better access to agricultural
crops cultivated underneath. Dead or damaged branches are cut for firewood.
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