The challenges of cucumber farming include poor seedlings, poor quality fertilizer, inadequate water supply to cucumber plants and poor soil fertility etc.
To be successful in cucumber farming, you should devise strategies to mitigate the challenges you can encounter in the growing of cucumbers.
Poor quality cucumber seeds for example can lead to a reduction in crop yield.
Challenges of cucumber farming in Nigeria
The following are the challenges of cucumber farming in Nigeria:
- The use of poor quality seeds
- Low soil fertility
- Poor water management
- Poor quality fertilizers
- Poor pest and disease management
- Weeds
- Non-staking of cucumber plants
- Over use of fertilizers
- Late harvesting of cucumbers
- Usage of the wrong type of pesticides
The use of poor quality seeds
The use of poor quality cucumber seed is one of the challenges of cucumber farming in Nigeria. Poor farmers prefer to buy cheap and poor quality cucumber seeds, this often lead to a low crop yield.
You should insist on buying high quality hybrid cucumber seeds like Murano F1, Darina F1 and Tokyo F1 seeds etc.
Low soil fertility
The soil in Nigeria is generally poor. This is one of the pitfalls of cucumber farming in Nigeria. You should conduct a soil test and get an agronomist to help you to design a fertilization plan to make your soil suitable for the growing of cucumber.
Poor water management
Cucumber contains 90% of water. Inadequate supply of water to your cucumber plants can lead to a significant loss in yield.
Irrigation facility like drip irrigation should be used to optimize the supply of water to cucumber plants.
Poor quality fertilizers
A significant percentage of fertilizers in Nigeria are of low quality. This is one of the challenges of cucumber farming in Nigeria.
You should buy your fertilizers from accredited dealers. You should also do the analysis of the nutrients in your fertilizer.
Poor pest and disease management
Poor pest and disease management is one of the pitfalls of cucumber farming in Nigeria. Cucumber plants are affected by a lot of pests and diseases.
The right type of pesticides should be used at the appropriate time to prevent the outbreak of pests and diseases.
Weeds
Weeds can reduce the yield of cucumber plants to near zero. Herbicides should be used for weeds management. Weeds can also be removed by hand or mechanically.
The use of mulches can prevent the growth of weeds on cucumber farms.
Non-staking of cucumber plants
Non-staking of cucumber plants can pre-dispose the plants to all kinds of diseases. Crawling cucumber plants also produce crooked and badly shaped cucumbers which often are not marketable.
Staking can go a long way in increasing the yield of cucumber plants.
Over use of fertilizers
It is a misconception that the use of a lot of fertilizers will lead to a high yield in cucumber farming. Over use of fertilizers can harm your plants and lead to a low crop yield.
Late harvesting of cucumbers
Late harvesting of cucumbers can actually harm the cucumber plants and reduce the overall yield. When matured cucumbers are left on the cucumber plants, the cucumber plants become stressed, this results in poor yield.
Cucumbers should be harvested every 2 – 3 days.
Usage of the wrong type of pesticides
The use of the wrong type of pesticides can also be a pitfall in cucumber farming. You should always use the right type of fertilizers for your cucumber plants.
Do you experience any challenges on your cucumber farm? If yes, why not contact us.