SENIOR FOUR AGRICULUTURE
TIME: 2 HOURS
SECTION A
SOIL
SCIENCE
AND VALUE
ADDITION
Answer all items in this section.
Item 1.
(a) Kagugu a farmer in Pabbu sub county in Uganda was advised to start a dairy
farm on his one-hectare piece of land. He planted elephant grass and Congo
signal grass in plots A and B respectively at the same time. He expects to
receive in-calf dairy heifers in six months’ time and both pastures have
already reached their flowering stages. Therefore, there is no likelihood of him
feeding the current pastures to the heifers which are yet to come. At the same
time, he is not interested in selling his pastures in a green state to other
farmers. In his first attempt to conserve the pastures, the final product was
rotten, black in colour and produced an unpleasant smell.
Task
Write a message to Kagugu advising him on how to conserve his pastures.
(b) In Pabbu sub-county where Kagugu practices farming, many other farmers
have small plots of land that are scattered in many places. They keep little
money from what they sell. This little money is kept in pillows, or wooden
boxes. Some farmers do not even know how much money they have kept.
During planting season, each farmer works alone in his/her farm, and by the
time they finish, the first part of the garden they began with has already grown
bushy. A market survey indicates that an individual farmer buys a litre of
Rocket pesticide at Ugsh40,000, yet a 20 litre jerrycan of the same pesticide
costs Ugsh600,000.
Task
Based on the above scenario, what advice would you give to the farmers in Pabbu
Sub county?
Item 2.
Having realized that students in a school have preferences for fruits like passion
fruits, the Young Farmers Club decided to establish an orchard in the school farm.
Some areas of the school farm are steep and rocky with shallow soils while other
areas are gently sloping with deep, well drained and fairly fertile soils. In the course
of running the project, it was observed that the soils in the nursery were compact,
sticky and flooded with water. The pH of the soil in the nursery is lower than the
recommended range for fruit growing. The seedlings were thin with shallow roots,
bent stems and yellowish leaves.
Task
In your view, suggest the improvements that the Young Farmers Club should do to
ensure profitable fruit production on the school farm.
SECTION B
This section has two parts; I and II
PART I: ANIMAL PRODUCTION
Answer one item from this part.
SENIOR FOUR AGRIC
Item 3.
Innocent who is an agricultural extension worker visited a farm and in his reported
he indicated that the roof of a calf pen was blown off. Also, the cows were bonny
and their dung contained worms. The adult animals could hardly find what to eat and
were grazing on woody natural pastures. The only source of water had snail shells,
algae and dung. The lactating cows had cracks on their teats. Hair-like substances
were seen in the milk which was filtered using an old cloth. The farm owner uses a
basin for mixing the acaricide.
Task
Basing on the report from Innocent, how can the farm owner improve on the
productivity of the livestock farm?
Item 4.
Peter is a poultry farmer producing both eggs and meat on a large scale. Recently he
got a new farm manager and instructed him to establish a poultry breeding unit using
the parent stock he has to produce chicks for sale. However, the farm manager was
not getting the expected number of chicks from the hatchery. The farm is located in
an area with many other poultry farmers and there is free movement of chicken from
one farm to another. Birds from the neighbouring farms were observed with cough,
blood-stained faeces, mucus discharge and scratch marks on their bodies.
Operation Wealth Creation has provided tools and equipment to livestock farmers in
the community especially for disease and parasite management.
Task
Write guidelines to help the farm manager meet Peter’s requirement.
PART II: CROP PRODCUTION Answe one item from this part.
Item 5.
Mr. Maberu is a farmer who decided to grow cassava on one hectare of land. He
obtained all the planting materials from his neighbours’ farms. The cassava stems
had dark brown streaks which appeared as scratches or wounds. The stems were cut
into 20 cm long pieces. After clearing the bush using a slasher, Mr. Maberu used a
forked hoe to plant the cuttings at a spacing of 3m x 3m. Some of the cuttings
sprouted but others did not. Weeds grew very fast, the cassava leaflets were twisted,
and stunted growth was observed in some cassava plants in the garden. Mr. Maberu
managed to weed once and decided to harvest the crop after 6 months using a forked
hoe. Most tubers were found rotten at harvest and others damaged during harvesting.
As a result, he obtained only two 200 kg of fresh cassava instead of the expected
12600kg per hectare.
Task
Write a message to Maberu advising him on how to obtain the expected yield.
