New machine may enable planting 100 times more seedlings
With new machinery at the Manger Care Centre (MCC) smallholding in Brentwood Park, their seedlings project is growing its capacity and can now produce more seedlings for customers.
For their seedlings project, they were sponsored by the National Development Agency and purchased the Simplicity Planting Machine, which is capable of planting 20 000 seedlings into trays every hour – whereas manually, they were only able to plant 4 000 seedlings an hour at most.
“The machine allows for a much higher germination rate of our seedlings; and because our planting capacity has increased dramatically, we can now do more commercial orders,” said MCC communications officer, Andrew Wessels.
“Right now we’re delivering cabbage and spinach to three prisons in the Free State and hope that because we now have the capacity, we’ll continue to get big orders from the public.”
Another development, Wessels said, was their prescription to Good Agricultural Practise (GAP) – a global programme that looks to ensure farmers use appropriate methods, to grow their seedlings and crops.
He said that under this programme, their seedling project is subject to assessment by auditing.
“Because we’re dealing with food, we’re required to record and file any and every activity where sanitation and health is concerned, as per the rules of the GAP – so that the seedlings don’t become contaminated.
“We’re also looking to get a filler and a popper machine, to add to our developments.”
Their seedlings are for vegetables and include: beetroot, spinach, broccoli, butternut, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower.
Farmers are encouraged to buy seedlings at the smallholdings, so that they can continue to fund their care centre, care for the community and buy the necessary machinery, to further develop their seedlings project.
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