How to Start a Profitable Cucumber Farming

How to Start a Cucumber Farming Business

  Will your cucumber farming business be profitable? whether yes or no is in your hands it is better to hurt you with the truth, than to comfort you with lies. It is the effort you put in that will determine whether your cucumber farm will be profitable or not.

The purpose of this blog is to hold you by the hand to ensure that your proposed cucumber business is not only profitable but also sustainable. Let's get started with the most important requirement before getting started in cucumber farming - Market

Market

Due to the nature of the produce, if you do not have a market or buyers, please do not start cucumber farming because this is what will determine if you will make a profit or not. It is a common practice in any business to first identify multiple buyers, and probably make arrangements with them to avoid avoidable losses.

Cucumber has a very short shelf life cycle, so it is very crucial to get buyers in advance before you start planting. They easily get spoiled if harvesting is delayed or not sold immediately.

Therefore, make sure to do a comprehensive market survey of your prospective buyers - find consumers nearby especially those who will buy in large quantities - supermarket or grocery stores, Canteen, eateries or fast food restaurants, Roadside hawkers, and industries or companies who need them in their process. Make sure to reach a reasonable agreement with them to guarantee they will off-take your produce during harvest. 

it is also crucial to have more buyers than your produce so that if one prospect fails, you have a backup plan to sell your produce as soon as possible.

Other requirements to start a Cucumber farm?

-   Business plan: Fail to plan is planning to fail, your business plan should summarize all cost implications and revenue projections from the farm project. Additionally, it should describe the marketing strategies and all the operations to be carried out, plans for farm management including staffing, etc.

-    Land:  This is also very important because without land, where will you plant your cucumber? it is not compulsory to own it, you can rent but if you are renting it make sure your tenure is well negotiated and documented to avoid surprises - The land owner may want to use the land in the middle of your planting session.

- Farm Schedule or Calendar:  This is also sometimes referred to as the activity calendar, this is a calendar that shows the plan of all activities to be carried out on the farm and when they will be carried out throughout the planting season or duration of that farm project.

-  Basic Farm Tools: Make sure that simple farm tools such as cutlass, hoe and knapsack sprayer, binding wire staking rope, staking net, bucket, sack and so on are readily available.

-  Agrochemical & Seedlings: Ensure that the seeds and agrochemicals such as pesticides, fertilizers, and insecticides that you will need are available. Check the expiry date. It is advisable not to buy seeds and agrochemicals that their expiry date is close.

-  Labour Expenses: The best thing is to use mechanization for every operation on your farm but in a situation where machines are not readily available or too expensive, then you should consider hiring laborers with supervision to carry out the operations.

Getting Started with Cucumber Farming

 Once all necessary research and surveys are done on the viability of the business and we are convinced that is a good thing to try. let's get started on the core farming operations.

Site Selection Process

This process matters a lot as it is the foundation of your farm. The site you decide to plant your cucumber will greatly affect the yield and sometimes determine if the farm project will be successful or not. Choose a very good location for your farm preferably somewhere close to your market or somewhere motorable, the best soil for plating is sandy loam soil rich in organic matter. You will also need to test your soil to know the PH level of your soil, the elements in the soil, and other necessary information.

Land Preparation

First clear your land either manually, with the use of herbicides, or with the use of a tractor. Remove the plant debris, apply manure, plough and make ridges, level the surface of the ridges, and then plant your cucumber seeds.

There are two types of seeds.

• The open-pollinated seed
• The hybrid seeds.

The hybrid seed is better, Examples of hybrid cucumber seeds are:

•  the Darina F1 seeds, 
• Greengo F1 seeds, 
• Murano F1 Seeds etc.

mulching should be done during land preparation, using mulching film, as well as installation of a drip irrigation system  - This option is your best bet due to the fluctuations in rainfall patterns caused by climate change, particularly if you plant during the dry season.

Planting

The open-pollinated seed and the hybrid seed both have their advantages and disadvantages. The open-pollinated seeds are relatively cheaper but do not yield as much as the hybrid seeds which are more expensive but have a high yield

Important points to note during planting:

• Make sure that the land is moist before planting
• Ensure you plant at the spacing of 30cm by 75cm.
• If cucumber plants are too close they won't do well and
• if they are too far apart you will not get maximum yield as you will not have the expected number of plant stands.
• Do not plant the seed too deep about an inch into the soil anything deeper than that is       not advisable and
• If you are planting hybrid seeds you only need to sow one seed per hole.
• For open-pollinated, you can use two seeds per hole but, make sure to transplant once they germinate to avoid overcrowding that impacts the yield when they are too close to each other.

The cucumber seeds start germinating in 4 to 10 days after planting. After a few days, the third leaf comes out. After successful germination, follow your farm activity calendar for post-planting operations such as Pest, disease, and insect control, staking, and fertilizer application until harvest.

Pest and insect control:

There are various methods of controlling pests and insects on your farm. The most popular and common method is the use of agrochemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, and so on. Make sure to use the right pest and insect control- more on it later.

Staking:

This is the use of sticks and ropes to hold crawling plants such as cucumber which is one of them. This operation is somehow optional because your plants will still produce without staking them but the yield will be low and the plants will be easily infected.

Staking has its advantages as it helps to prevent the cucumber fruits from direct contact with the soil thereby preventing spoilage of the fruit which is usually caused by heat or moisture from the soil.

Fertilizer application:

Fertilizer application should be done using proper dosage. Fertiliser should be applied especially in the flowering stage.

Harvesting:

Congratulations! You made it harvesting stage, make sure you harvest your cucumbers carefully by cutting the fruit from where it joins with the stalk. Also, handle cucumber fruit carefully after harvest in other to avoid damage to the fruit which leads to spoilage. As earlier discussed you can market your farm produce to retailers, supermarkets, those into salad production, and spa or beauty parlous.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q- How many months does it take from planting to harvesting the fruits?

Ans - It takes between 6 to 8 weeks to harvest if you plant hybrid seeds but it will take longer for cross-pollinated seeds

Q - Is it practicable to sell one acre of cucumbers as they can be easily spoiled?

Ans - Yes, but, you will not harvest the whole farm at the same time. It is advisable to do harvesting in batches. Within three or four days, after selling carry out another harvesting.

Q - What are the months of planting?

Ans - June -July was an ideal period because the plant would have started fruiting in the rainy season and harvesting done when the dry season is setting in. However, because of unpredictable weather conditions, you can plant in the dry season but use irrigation. Business-wise, you will sell at higher prices this time than raining season

Q - Which type of soil is the most suitable for cucumber farming? 

Ans - Sandy loaming soil that is rich in organic matter is the best, however, you can use other types of soil but you will need to manage the soil by supplementing additional nutrients and controlling water holding capacity, etc

Q - Give us the name of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers that you use on a cucumber farm 

Ans - Herbicides: Forceoff, Paraforce Gold,  Pesticides:. Fungicide: Fugiforce

Q - What is the fertilizer application dosage?

Ans - The type of fertilizers used determines application dosage - is it granulated, liquid, or organic fertilizers? Read the label for application instructions

Q - How does cucumber planting respond to seasonal changes? Like how well it performs under heavy rainfall, little rainfall, and even dry season.

Ans -  Have you bought a bitter cucumber? That is an example of cucumber responding to abnormal planting seasons - insufficient water during fruiting, Waterflood in the farm - Low harvest due to low aeration, and more Fungi infections may occur

Q - Can cucumber be grown all year round?

A - Yes, it can be grown all year round, as long as you have an irrigation system.