Channel Title: Mondo Farms Channel Description: Mondo Farms in an emerging Zambian farming venture owned and operated by Chisha Folotiya. Our first farm is called Winterthorn was started in Feb 2020 at Mulenje Village, Chongwe, Lusaka Province, Zambia. Our main crops include various vegetables (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, pepper, cucumber, eggplant, onions, watermelon) for the Lusaka market. Seasonal rain-fed crops like maize, soya beans, groundnuts, beans, and sunflower are also grown. Winterthorn Farm is also home to our trial agroforestry operations, and we have begun to grow pine, casuarina and eucalyptus trees for the long term. <video> Farming in Zambia: How we Improved our Carrot Growing Techniques in 2024 Description: Carrot is a major rotational crop for us, that provides us with decent returns when grown properly and at the right time. This video shares a quick review of our 2024 carrot crop at Kimberley, and includes a major change we made from last year: wider beds for a higher yield. </video> <video> Holland Greentech Zambia Greenhouse Farming Field Day @ Kimberley Farm | 2024 Oct | Highlights Description: Mondo Farms was proud to host a greenhouse farming field day, which showcased the Quinta Africa 504 greenhouse and a demo crop of various Rijk Zwaan cucumber varieties distributed by Holland Greentech Zambia. The event was held at our Kimberley Farm on Friday, 11 October, 2024. This video presents some highlights from the exciting event. Many thanks to all the farmers of today and tomorrow who attended. See you again at the next one. </video> <video> Vegetable Farming in Zambia: We Got our First Greenhouse Description: Mondo Farms shares their journey towards investing in our first ever greenhouse, and why we made the choice of acquiring one made by Quinta, which was supplied and put up by Holland Greentech Zambia. We look at how growing high value vegetables in controlled environments like a greenhouse will give us a lot of advantages and benefits, and take a detailed look at some of the main features of Quinta Africa greenhouses. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quinta Africa greenhouses are supplied and distributed by Holland Greentech in the following countries: HGT Zambia Location: Plot 22975 Chitimukulu Road, Off Great East Road, PHI, Lusaka Contacts: +260 96 3140424, +260 97 4679927 Facebook: Holland Greentech Zambia HGT Rwanda Location: Kigali-Kicukiro-Near Bralirwa (KK 10Ave) Contact: +250 781449656 Facebook: Holland Greentech Rwanda rwanda@hollandgreentech.com HGT Uganda Location: Muyenga off Kironde Road Plot 11a Okama Road, Kampala Contact:+256 703923742, +256 785369453 Facebook: Holland Greentech Uganda www.hollandgreentech.ug uganda@hollandgreentech.com HGT Tanzania Arusha Office : Nane Nane Grounds, Njiro Contact:+255 767 410 570 </video> <video> African Greenhouse Farming Guide Part 1: Crop Planning Preparation Description: After our Quinta Africa 504 greenhouse was ready and and had been handed over by the supplier, Holland Greentech, as you saw in our recent video, we didn’t have any time to rest. We needed to get the first crop of high value vegetables established in it and start earning some ROI from the investment. This video features a break down of how we planned for the crop, including selecting which crop to grow, and then working out the bed spacing and layout. It then goes into how we made the beds in the greenhouse, and then set up the irrigation system using Rivulis D2000 drip tape for the first time. Finally its shows our soil treatment process, which is necessary for protecting the future plants from danger of soil pests and disease. This is the first part in our series on greenhouse farming in Africa. Part 2: https://youtu.be/NPKqwyJH-_M?si=ZUzarVTR8nVCEkGZ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quinta Africa greenhouses are supplied and distributed by Holland Greentech in the following countries: HGT Zambia Location: Plot 22975 Chitimukulu Road, Off Great East Road, PHI, Lusaka Contact: +260 96 3140424, +260 97 4679927 Facebook: Holland Greentech Zambia HGT Rwanda Location: Kigali-Kicukiro-Near Bralirwa (KK 10Ave) Contact: +250 781449656 Facebook: Holland Greentech Rwanda rwanda@hollandgreentech.com HGT Uganda Location: Muyenga off Kironde Road Plot 11a Okama Road, Kampala Contact: +256 703923742, +256 785369453 Facebook: Holland Greentech Uganda www.hollandgreentech.ug uganda@hollandgreentech.com HGT Tanzania Arusha Office : Nane Nane Grounds, Njiro Contact: +255 767 410 570 </video> <video> Farming in Zambia: How We Irrigated Our Maize and Soya Beans Crops During the Long Dry Spell Description: Facing a long dry spell during the 2023/24 rain season was one of our greatest ever challenges we have ever faced. With little rainfall for weeks and very hot temperatures, we had to up our irrigation game to save some of our maize and soya beans crops out in the field. This video shares a comprehensive look back at how we used our experience with irrigating vegetable crops at Kimberley and Winterthorn to hold back the losses we would have faced. </video> <video> Vegetable Farming in Zambia: Transplanting Pepper Seedlings Description: Transplanting vegetable seedlings from a nursery to their final establishment beds always fills our team with excitement and positive feelings. This video shares how we settled a sweet pepper crop onto its home on Dubai 1 at Winterthorn. The day of transplanting comes as the last step in a process that starts with planning, then involves preparing the beds and the seedlings. </video> <video> Vegetable Farming in Zambia: Growing Green Pepper from Transplant to Harvest Description: Growing high value fruiting vegetables successfully involves taking a long term approach and doing a number of things that aim to have plants that produce for several months. We want our crops to grow well and then start giving us harvests for that period of time. This video shares the various steps that we take with our green pepper crops after transplanting. This starts with basic crop husbandry, and then moves into more technical interventions like fruit balancing and precision feeding of the right nutrients. After our green pepper crop on Dubai 1 was affected by very cold weather in June, 2024, we had to do use our experience and problem solving expertise as we tried to save it, and then get it producing fruits again. </video> <video> African Greenhouse Farming Guide Part 2: Crop Planting Description: With the beds in the greenhouse ready, it was time to plant. The second video in our African Greenhouse farming series features how we select the right seed and then sow them into the beds we had made for the initial high value vegetable crop into the completed greenhouse unit. This is the second part in our series on greenhouse farming in Africa. Part 1: https://youtu.be/GCNW1nqAy_4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rijk Zwaan hybrid vegetable seeds are supplied and distributed by Holland Greentech in the following countries: HGT Zambia Location: Plot 22975 Chitimukulu Road, Off Great East Road, PHI, Lusaka Contact: +260 96 3140424, +260 97 4679927 Facebook: Holland Greentech Zambia HGT Rwanda Location: Kigali-Kicukiro-Near Bralirwa (KK 10Ave) Contact: +250 781449656 Facebook: Holland Greentech Rwanda rwanda@hollandgreentech.com HGT Uganda Location: Muyenga off Kironde Road Plot 11a Okama Road, Kampala Contact: +256 703923742, +256 785369453 Facebook: Holland Greentech Uganda www.hollandgreentech.ug uganda@hollandgreentech.com HGT Tanzania Arusha Office : Nane Nane Grounds, Njiro Contact: +255 767 410 570 </video> <video> Farming in Zambia: How We Use Sunn Hemp As Cover Crop Description: Forecasts for the 2023-24 rain season were telling us that it was going to be a poor one due to the El Nino weather effect. With low and erratic rainfall expected, we realised that we were not going to be able to successfully grow the usual amounts of maize and soya beans on some of our large fields at Winterthorn. So we decided that rather than leave them fallow, we would grow sunn hemp on them as a cover crop. This video shares the basics of cover crops and why we opted for sunn hemp. It then goes into how we planned and planted the sunn hemp on our Alaska, Brazil and Jamaica fields in mid-January, and then how we went about harvesting the seed in June-July. </video> <video> Winter Maize Farming in Zambia: Our Guide To A Successful Crop Description: Growing maize in the winter is not the same as most of us are used to when we produce it normally when the weather is warm and wet from mid-Nov to April. It’s quite different and we need to do some planning and thinking, before we even start. We need to put in extra resources and efforts to make sure the crop grows well. And even when the winter maize is growing, we can find ourselves facing hectic challenges. This video is all about how we have been growing our winter maize in 2024. We to talk about winter maize, and some of the important factors that we had to consider as we planned for the crop. And of course, we will share some of our experiences and lessons learnt. We also share what happened when one of our winter maize crops was devastated by frost, and what we did to overcome the challenge. </video> <video> Soil Testing: A key Investment for Successful Yields | Farming in Zambia: Description: Soil testing is essential for farmers and gardeners to get to know the health of the soil, ensuring optimal growth for their crops, and maximizing their yields. It can save them from higher fertilizer costs than necessary. In this video, we explore how it's done, from how we take soil samples from a field, to packaging them for the testing lab, and then what you should be looking for in the results. </video> <video> Farming in Zambia: How we make compost out in the field Description: Compost is a crucial component in how we grow vegetables at Mondo Farms. It forms the very foundation of our vegetable farming by giving our plants a healthy basis from which to go from the field to our bank balance. It also saves us a bit of money. This video starts by defining what compost is, and then looks at how and why we use it. And then we share how we make our own compost in outdoor heaps using our version of hot composting. </video> <video> Soya Bean Farming in Zambia: The Harvest Process in 2024 Description: Our 2023-2024 soya bean crop had to be grown through a drought, and we were not expecting very much. As it ripened on the fields at the end of summer, we moved in to carry out the harvest. This video shares the process of how we gathered the grain from the fields, and then used a special threshing machine to process it. </video> <video> Farming in Zambia: How We Mulched Our Maize and Soya Beans Crops to Preserve Soil Moisture Description: Mulching is an important agricultural practice that helps farmers and gardeners conserve soil moisture. As we continued to struggle with a long dry spell in Feb 2024, during one of the most difficult rain seasons we have ever faced, we came across a viral video that showed us how to easily mulch our field crops with organic material. This video shares a quick look at how we tried out mulching for ourselves on a crop of soya beans at Winterthorn and started to see the benefits. </video> <video> Vegetable Farming in Africa: The Rijk Zwaan Journey of Inspiration 2024 Recap Description: We have been growing Rijk Zwaan hybrid vegetable seeds for a few years and have developed a successful relationship with their distributor, Holland Greentech. I was humbled to be invited to be part of group of African farmers invited to visit the home of Rijk Zwaan and learn more about them during a week filled with learning and sharing. This video shares a recap of my trip to the Netherlands in June 2024, where we saw some of what goes into breeding and developing their hybrid vegetable seeds, and what makes them so special. The tour also included several other visits to relevant and interesting places for emerging farmers. </video>

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Description

Mondo Farms in an emerging Zambian farming venture owned and operated by Chisha Folotiya.

Our first farm is called Winterthorn was started in Feb 2020 at Mulenje Village, Chongwe, Lusaka Province, Zambia.

Our main crops include various vegetables (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, pepper, cucumber, eggplant, onions, watermelon) for the Lusaka market. Seasonal rain-fed crops like maize, soya beans, groundnuts, beans, and sunflower are also grown.

Winterthorn Farm is also home to our trial agroforestry operations, and we have begun to grow pine, casuarina and eucalyptus trees for the long term.

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