The World has come to a standstill due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus. During a time of “no contact and no socializing,” greenhouse cultivation will help you to sustain your business motives, while you do not directly establish contact with your friends, relatives, and neighbours.
Meanwhile, you are working self-isolated in your greenhouse, producing massive produce, allowing you to earn a good amount of profits.
The pandemic has turned out so deadly that it is killing millions from all over the World. The medical field is working on vaccines and is yet to come up with a suitable antidote that is supposedly going to save the World.
No one in their wildest dream has ever imagined that the World will have to face such fatal pandemic taking a toll on lives. People are not allowed to socialize nowadays owing to Covid19 situations; all offices remain closed.
As per the governments’ norms, all are staying back at home. People are asked not to socialize and be a part of any gathering due to the innate characteristics of the virus that can spread fast, leading to situations that go out of control.
For these reasons schools, colleges, offices, malls remain closed for the time being. However, staying back at home is only possible when there is an adequate supply of food at home.
Due to the global lockdown, the supply of food and daily necessities are getting affected to a large scale. Prices are reaching sky high as the supply is becoming limited.
Every nation is facing the brunt of the situation; food supplies are affected everywhere; as a result, the supply chain is heavily broken. As most of the markets are closed, farmers are not able to supply their yield.
Farmers are destroying their own products out of disappointment as they can no longer supply such valuable yield to the market. Human beings are facing a serious threat as they fear that such a global pandemic will soon leave them with no choice than to die. Foods are running out of stock everywhere.
As per ZIPPY DUVALL the American Farm President “Empty shelves can be frightening, but empty fields and barns would be devastating.”
You can become self-dependent by setting up your own small greenhouse, which will benefit you in several ways. Few benefits are as follows:
- If you set up your own greenhouse, you can cultivate more or less of the necessary items required in your day-to-day life. For example, you can cultivate poultry items such as Eggs, hens, ducks, rabbits, turkey, etc. You can also cultivate different types of veggies and fruits.
- You can use your greenhouse for not only meeting daily needs but also for commercial purposes. Greenhouse cultivation will lead to increased earnings in this lockdown as you can cultivate the food items in larger quantities and supply them to the market. Due to the pandemic, farmers are unable to cultivate essentials leading to disruption of the supply chain.
- You can derive fresh produce from greenhouse cultivation and not have to visit the market for buying food items. It makes you self-dependent too.
- You can keep yourself busy while you set up your own greenhouse; as a result, the leisure time can easily be killed, and there will be hardly any time left for socializing. Hence automatically, you will stay protected from the pandemic.
Things Which You Can Grow In Your Small Farmhouse During The Pandemic
Poultry Items
You can cultivate a wide range of poultry items in your little farmhouse like eggs; and also invest in poultry farming of birds like hens, cocks, ducks, turkey, etc. depending on your need.
Farming Eggs and Chicks
“Layer poultry farming” is considered the most widely practised method and is accepted throughout the World. If you want to practice poultry farming at a commercial level, you can adopt this highly result based method.
Layer species of chicken require to be raised from day 1. As they become 19 to 20 weeks old, they start laying eggs commercially. These chickens continue to lay eggs till they reach the age bracket of 73 to 79 weeks. By consuming around 2kgs of food, they yield 1kg of eggs.
5 to 7% of chickens lay eggs when they reach the age bracket of 20 weeks. And 10 to 12% start laying eggs as become 21 weeks old. Egg-laying reaches its peak when they reach the age bracket of 27 to 30 weeks. Egg sizes are at best when the chickens are 50 weeks old.
The eggs are stored at more or less 13°C; however, you will need to keep a tab on the coop’s temperature.
Approximately, a hen needs 26 hours to lay an egg.
Keep your adult chickens in a temperature between 21 to 29°C to get the best result.
Two types of layer hens available
Chickens laying white eggs
Lehman white, severely white, isa white, hi line white are the few examples of chickens that lay white eggs. The shell of the egg is white in colour. These chickens are smaller in size; also, they consume less food, but their productivity is always high.
Chickens laying brown eggs
Bablona tetro, gold line, Lehman brown, isa brown are the few examples of chickens laying brown eggs. The shells are brown in colour, and the chickens are bigger in size. These chickens consume more food.
Their productivity is not that high. However, demand is always high. Brown eggs are considered as premium quality eggs. You can earn a good amount of money by farming brown eggs.
Selection method of layer chickens
Firstly, before selecting layer chickens, you should be well aware of their demand in your locality.
Secondly, if you are going for commercial production, you must select breeds that will lay maximum eggs.
Thirdly, you must buy chicks that are healthy, as healthy chicks can produce more eggs compared to weaker ones. Last but not least, you should buy chicks from reputed and popular hatcheries.
Treatment and care
While transporting chickens from one place to the other, they are likely to become dehydrated. Make sure you keep them hydrated throughout by training them to have water.
ou can add a certain amount of glucose in the water, which will keep their glucose level high. You can also use electrolyte and multivitamins, which will keep them healthy.
Vaccines should be given at proper intervals in order to keep the chickens free from diseases. Timely vaccination increases the disease-resistant power in chickens.
As a result, these chickens become healthy, adding to the overall productivity of your farming initiative. With such good products, you will be able to earn more and derive a greater level of profits, which is much needed during the pandemic.
Feeding
You need to spoon-feed the growing chicks until they reach the age of 5 weeks. Also, make sure you feed them with proper Pellets after you are done with the brooding.
The more you expend on quality pellets, the better results you get down the line. Good pellets will make them strong and healthy, which will result in better yields.
Protein, vitamin, minerals, and a certain percentage of calcium should be mixed with the main fodder.
The Fruits and Vegetables Which You Can Grow
Due to the lockdown, the entire supply chain has been interrupted. The farmers can no longer supply their produce to supermarkets or to the wholesaler.
Hence in order to become self-sufficient, you can grow basic fruits and vegetables which will cater to your daily needs. Once you gather knowledge on farming concepts and become experienced, you can even go on to the extent of commercializing it. You can also supply your products to the local market or the end user and earn a good amount of profit during the pandemic.
Tomatoes/Cucumber/Chillies: Daily essential veggies like tomatoes cucumber and chilies are in high demand in the market; every household needs it. Growing these types of vegetables is easy; you don’t require giving too much effort. The only thing is that you need to water them on a regular basis and keep a tab so that there is no fungal attack on them. You can cultivate these vegetables throughout the year.
Beat/ Radish/Peas: A lot of people love having snacks and salads; these three veggies are especially in high demand because of their usage in making delicious snacks and salads. You can easily grow them in your greenhouse during the pandemic and supply them to end-users and earn handsome profits.
Lemon/Oranges/ Melons/ Strawberries: These fruits can be easily grown in your greenhouse. They have the ability to survive the coldest of weathers. Hence they can be grown well without much hassle. Strawberries have great demand during the winter season, especially during Christmas. You can directly sell them to the bakeries and earn a good amount.
Warmth Loving Fruits: Fruits such as peaches, pears, oranges & bananas grow healthy when exposed to warmth; they can accumulate easily in the greenhouse with proper care.
Growing pear trees in your greenhouse are fun. These can be grown as a semi-dwarf or dwarf tree, especially when you are cultivating them in your greenhouse. Plant your pear tree in such a place to get six to seven hours of sunshine for its best yields.
You can harvest peach during late summers or during the onset of spring as it starts to bloom. The best part is that you can grow it in any kind of soil; however, make sure the soil remains well-drained.
Its market value is quite high as it offers lots of health benefits. You can also earn a good amount of money by selling it to end-users.
Growing banana plants in your greenhouse will be an excellent idea if you want to earn extras. You can earn a huge amount of money from it as each, and every part of the tree is consumed. From the leaves to its stem, every part of the plant is consumed.
Leaves are in great demand as they can be used as an alternative to ceramic or metal plates. Banana flower is also in high demand; it is used as a key ingredient for preparing delicious dishes.
The banana plant’s trunk is also high in demand as it offers a wide range of health benefits. Bananas are too are popular among fruits. So, grow banana plants in your greenhouse and sell them to the end-user.
You can also grow oranges in your greenhouse very easily. Oranges are in great demand during the winter season. You need to water the orange trees on a regular basis.
Proper fertilization and pruning yield the best results. You can earn a good amount of money during the winter season.
Flower Cultivation
Orchids, Roses, and Lilies are the most popular flowers which you can easily grow in the greenhouse. Lily grows well in spring summer and fall.
Orchids grow well in summer months; the flower buds start appearing during late fall. The plants continue to bloom till the time spring arrives. Roses grow well during the springtime.
Moreover, with a bit of care, the above-mentioned flowering plants can be grown very easily. You can supply them to the local market or can sell them to the end-user to earn a good amount of profits.
Finding the potential market over the web
As we all know, online business is trending everywhere across the globe. It acts as a blessing during this outbreak since you can run your business online without leaving your premises for good reasons.
If you are willing to sell your products to people in your community, collect their contact numbers and email ids so that you can promote your products from time to time and allow people to enjoy such rich produce. The internet is a primary medium for you to gain access to a wide customer base where you can take up orders and sell items of necessity.
In this way, you can earn a good amount of money during the pandemic because normal markets are likely to remain closed, and demands are also going to be really high.
Later on, if you want to take your business to the next level, you need to tie up with the leading online brands to get hold of a larger base.
During a time of “no contact and no socializing,” greenhouse cultivation will help you to sustain your business motives, while you do not directly establish contact with your friends, relatives, and neighbours.
Meanwhile, you are working self-isolated in your greenhouse, producing massive produce, allowing you to earn a good amount of profits.