Wheat

• For wheat cultivation, land preparation is usually done twice: 1^st plowing to soften the soil and remove weeds and grasses. The second plowing is meant to level the land that will be used with planting rows.
• Wheat grow well in a deep soil with enough organic matter and well drained.

Suitable areas for wheat

Wheat crop is suitable for high altitude areas ranging between 1800m and 2500 m above sea level. Specifically, the districts suitable for wheat growing are as follow: in Northern Province: Burera, Gakenke, Gicumbi, Musanze and Rulindo. In Southern Province: Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru, while in Western Province, wheat grows well in Nyabihu, Rubavu, Ngororero, Karongi and Rutsiro Districts.

• Planting time is twice per year, Season A ( September –October) and Season B ( March –April)
• Sow 100kg (100kg/ha)
• The seeds have to be broadcasted in rows with 20 cm spacing.
• Plant the seed in hall with 3 centimeters width (3cm).

• The wheat crop needs a follow up and management with the following activities: Weeding, earthing up, clearing the grasses and so on.

Fertilizer and Manure application:

• Manure: use ten tons of decomposed farm yard manure on one Hectare before planting (10Tons/Ha)
• Inorganic Fertilizer: apply 250 kg of NPK or 100 Kg of DAP on 1 Ha while planting  and add 100 kg of Urea while weeding.

Crop rotation:

Wheat rotates with legumes (peas and beans) and roots and tubers like irish potatoes.

a. Diseases

1. Septoria leaf blotch is caused by a fungus called “Septoria tritici“; and charasterised by symptoms like long greyish necrotic blotches on the foliage. this disease first attacks the first leaves  and can damage the whole yield if it starts at early growth stage. This disease outbreaks in humid and warm weather.

Control measures:

• Use resistant and improved varieties
• Sow on time,
• Use coated seeds,
• Pile wheat straws in a distant compost ditch.

• Wheat rust:  it is caused by a fungus called “Puccinia sp.(Striifomis, graminis and recondida). It is characterised by dark yellow or black spores on the leaves. Severely affected leaves dry out .  The diseases appears during cold weather and affected wheat produces unfilled grains.

Control measures:

• Use resistant varieties and sow on time,
• Use seeds coated with Thiram;
• Rotate crops because the causing pathogen can remain in the field on the shoots or seedlings from affected and left over wheat grains;
• Pile wheat straws in a distant compost ditch.

b. Pests

1. Wheat leaf eating beetle (Coccinnelles) caused  by “Epilachna spp”

It is an insect of the beetle family which looks like a coffee bean. It is red colour insect with black spots. When it still young, it feeds on the inner part of the leaf and when it is an adult  it eats the leave starting from the back.

Control measures

• Apply Dimethoate, Chloropyriphos – ethyl and Cypermethrine products.

Harvesting

• Wheat is harvested when it is the straws and heads have turned from green to yellow and the seed heads are drooping on the ground. Check the seeds for ripeness before harvest. They should be firm and crunchy and not doughy in texture.
• Wheat is stored in dry and aerated place,
  Basarura ingano zeze neza (3-5 T/Ha), zigatonorwa kandi zikanikwa kugira ngo zume neza.At harvest, wheat is dry enough with moisture content of 16% to 18 %, and straws have turned from green to yellow,

• Commercially produced wheat is usually harvested using a combine. Smaller plots can be harvested by hand using a scythe or sickle. Small plots can be harvested by snipping off the heads with a pair of scissors.

• Harvested wheat is transported in wheat bundles or sacs to the threshing ground or shade. Wheat is threshed on a plastic sheeting spread on the ground in the field or threshing ground,
• Wheat is manually threshed using sticks or appropriate threshing machine,
• After threshing, wheat is winnowed using traditional winnowers. While winnowing, damaged and unfilled grains, stones or other crop grains are removed. A modern winnowing machine can facilitate the work much more,
• Wheat is dried on a cemented ground or plastic sheeting. Wheat is slowly dried. Avoid very strong sun and very hot plastic sheeting/ drying ground which can burn the grains and, thus, deteriorate their quality.
• Grain treatment with insecticide: before storing wheat grains, it is recommended to treat them with insecticide in order to chase away rodents and pests like grain borers and others. Some of the insecticides to be used are: Detia at the rate of 2-3 tablets in a Ton of grains or Skana Super at the rate of 100gr/90 kg of wheat grain.
• Storage: well dried wheat remains with a moisture content of 13-14%. Once it is winnowed, treated with an appropriate insecticide, wheat is packaged in clean sacs and stored in a ventilated storage. Sacks should be raised off the ground to allow air circulation. It is recommended to use air-tight bags where it is possible. It is recommended to store wheat in a well ventilated store so as to reduce moisture and fight against diseases and pests, to raise the sacs off the ground to allow air circulation and to install rodent traps.
• Some of wheat products: wheat grains are milled into wheat flour. Wheat grains are also processed into flour by wheat millers like BAKHRESA, PEMBE, GITARE MILLS, AZANIA, etc…
• Wheat flour is used to make porridge, paste, crepes. Wheat flour based products are bread, donoughts,, cakes, chapattis…. While byproducts are used for animal feeds, construction materials, animal litter, compost, etc..