Crops you harvest in less than six months

Currently, due to climate change as a result of deforestation, reclamation of swamps, and industrialisation, among other factors, traditional farmers who depended on the traditional crop growing calendar of March are no longer to tell seasons due to unpredictable dry spells, since there was no mitigation.

This, in part, implies that farmers have to adapt coping strategies such as; use of modern farming methods including irrigation for constant water supply. As a result, experts advise that they grow fast-maturing crops, crops that take between three to six months to mature if irrigation is to be sustainable with the aim of “dodging” the dry spell.

Dr Andrew Kiggundu, a senior research officer at National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro), argues that besides sustainable water harvesting and irrigation, fast growing crops could ‘dodge’ the drought season.

Kiggundu says, by now every farmer should have his or her seed in the ground. “This is not the time for clearing plantations. Farmers should have planted already such that in three to four months, they will be harvesting,” he cautions.

Maize
According to Dr Alice Nabatanzi, a lecturer in the department of Plant Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology at Makerere University, maize is one of the fast growing crops that farmers can grow as a coping strategy for drought. Maize takes about four to six months to mature depending on the variety, unlike matooke that takes more than a year.

However, Kigundu highlights that the new Tego maize variety is drought tolerant and grows or matures fast than other varieties.

Maize should be grown in warm and moist sandy loam soils which have a free draining. It also grows well in moderately acidic and alkaline soils with a PH of approximately six to seven.

Besides its short growing period, it is eaten in a number of forms and is one of the crops that could sustain the populations during periods of food scarcity such as these.

“Maize can be boiled and eaten, eaten as popcorn, porridge, posho, which serves as a main dish in schools and prisons and also in homes, used in confectionery, among other long-term uses which in many ways promotes food security,” Dr Nabatanzi notes.”

Sweet potatoes
These take between four to six months to mature. They grow well in warm and moist loam soils with a free draining.
Sweet potatoes are commonly used as food in homes and also as a snack. Besides, they are famous for vitamin A for good vision, Vitamin C for wound healing and maintaining good skin.

Onions
Bulb onions mature within a period of three to five months while as spring (leafy) onions take four to six weeks. Dr Nabatanzi says onions require well-drained loam soils of PH six to seven. They contain Vitamin C for functioning of the human immune system and contain chromium which regulates blood sugar.

Irish potatoes
According to Dr Kiggundu, sweet potatoes are semi-perennial in a way. They grow well in fertile well-drained soils (sandy loam soils) and take between 90 to 120 days to mature (between three to four months).
In Uganda, Irish potatoes are mainly grown in highland areas of Kigezi, and the districts of Kabale, Kiboga and Mbale, because they require cooler conditions with constant supply of water of about 500ml to mature after emerging from the soil.

Watermelon
Watermelon is a good fruit for quenching thirst. It requires exposure to high temperatures and takes between four and five months to mature. Pollination, Dr Nabatanzi says is important in increasing the yield of watermelon. Therefore, she advises farmers to have or build a bee hive nearby.

They grow best in loamy well-drained soils with warm soil temperatures with a PH of six to seven. Watermelons also contain choline which helps to maintain the structure of cell membranes.

Cabbage
Commonly eaten as sauce and salad, cabbages require plenty of water thereby requiring constant irrigation. All cabbage varieties including red, green and purple cabbages mature within a period of three to four months. For better yields, farmers should endeavour to grow cabbages in well-aerated soils with a thick mulch to increase their yield.