HOW TO INDUCE RIPENING OF SOME FRUITS.

Ripening is induced by use of etheylene gas either on large scale or small scale.

Fruits such as bananas,apples,melon,pears etc are harvested when raw but mature and then sprayed with the gas in optimum levels and left to stand and the ripening is induced immediately.

This act is good in that the farmer earns alot of money quickly because the time is shortened which a fruit would take to ripen.

Etheylene is non toxic both the fruit and consumers when used in optimum levels and is a natural gas that is usually released at later stages in fruits .

Sometimes is difficult to obtain but manually can be obtained by vaporizing ethanol to remove water vapour and the gas left behind is ethylene.

Watermelon growing takes root in Acholi

The Independent February 18, 2021 NEWS Leave a comment

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Until five years ago, fruit vendors in Acholi sub region were importing watermelon from other parts of Uganda. Back then, the fruit farmers had a false belief that watermelon couldn’t do well, leave alone growing in Acholi sub region. Watermelon was commonly grown in Luwero, Kayunga, Mpigi, Mayuge, Mubende, Masindi and Bushenyi districts.

The fruits were rare in supermarkets and shops in Acholi. However, the tables have turned thanks to some farmers who decided to try out the fruit in 2015. The fruit is now all over the region with some vendors selling it on the go. Others pack the watermelon and sell it as salads in supermarkets, markets and on the roadside.

Panaleo Anywar, a farmer in Labora village says he started growing watermelon in 2017. Anywar used to grow onions, cabbages and tomatoes. He says after his first attempt at growing watermelon, he decided to incorporate it among the crops grown and says he earns more from watermelon compared to all the other crops.

“I used to think watermelon is a foreign fruit that could only grow in Busoga and other parts of the country. But the first time I planted half an acre, I sold the smallest fruit at Shillings 5,000 and they were bough right from my garden,” he said.

Anywar says when he plants an acre of watermelon, he gets a net profit of Shillings 2 million. He reveals that after seeing the benefit of growing watermelon, a number of farmers have taken up watermelon growing as a business.

He now trains more than 50 watermelon farmers in his village. Lauben Kafeero, a farmer in Koro Pida in Gulu city first planted his small garden of watermelon in 2015 when the weather was still stable using just 90 seeds and it did wonders. Kafeero says since then, he realized that watermelon does well in the dry season because at that time, the insects that bring diseases to the fruits are very minimal.

Kafeero explains that watermelons are sensitive to rain drops as it facilitates the growth of fungal infections which affect their quality. He says that those who earn well from watermelon are those who irrigate it because it helps them regulate the water supply to the fruits.