Q. I am creating a farm in Bertoua, Cameroun. Right now I have 30 ha of Banana trees (plantains) planted and 3.5 ha of hot peppers. I have to say that my farm does not look anything like the one in your book and does not produce any where near what your method says.
I want to create an industrial farm based on the Mittleider method. I have set aside 4 ha of farm for that purpose. I am planning to grow tomatoes and hot peppers using the Mittleider grow box method. I will appreciate if you can share your knowledge with me on how I can utilize the Mittleider method to make this endeavor a success. Patrice
A. There are many reasons The Mittleider system of growing produces great yields, and for you to be successful you MUST prepare through proper study and training, and then you must adhere strictly to the RECIPE, which is the Mittleider Gardening Course book, supplemented by the Food For Everyone book.
Bring the men and women you expect to have create and run the garden to the Mittleider Gardening Certification Training Boot Camp in Kidder, Missouri, and in 6 weeks I can have you trained and capable of creating and running the best commercial operation on the continent.
As to specifics, following are a few statements regarding main areas of importance:
1. Start by growing in the dirt, rather than trying to go directly to the sawdust and and boxes. The boxes represent a substantial investment, even for one acre, let alone 10 (4 hectares), as you envision.
2. To be successful you must have ample water available at all times. In most places this requires that you have water towers (large tanks), wells, and pumps, and a piped system of getting the water to the growing beds. Understand that a 30′-long bed or box requires between 10 and 20 gallons of water daily, and there are more than 250 beds per acre (625 X 15 = 9,000+ gallons per DAY per hectare)
3. The fertilizers must be sourced, purchased, delivered, mixed, stored, and used accurately and consistently. This is not inconsequential, and it is essential to your success. You need to be checking with neighboring countries to determine where you can get your fertilizers. When I conducted a project in Madagascar we had to bring some of the fertilizers from South Africa.
The most recent commercial project I have worked on is in the Philippines. All fertilizers are available except for Molybdenum, which we imported.
This project started by teaching 25 people, clearing the jungle, building greenhouses, obtaining a good water source, and creating a large garden right in the heavy clay soil.
The first garden became 15 acres, with approximately 3,750 beds, and was feeding 10,000 students their daily noon meal when this short video was created. https://mediazilla.com/zpoz853X6 There are now gardens on 3 islands, they are feeding 25,000 students, and their goal is 100,000 meals each day.
