woohoo a
farm thread . . . wonderful; memories of my rural year, yes we had cassava . . .
cut the canes for next season, then tractor comes through to pick up all the cassava tubers. Workers (mostly teams of women with machetes) were paid on a 'per bundle' rate, best were getting 750b per day.
I, meanwhile, would have failed to make the 300b minimum wage.
MsH the accountant, did, well, 'managed everything'
Calculated costs, payments, purchasing, labour hire, wages, organised someone to organise cold water and lunches (and 3-in-1 coffee for me); in the end her summary showed what a sad effort it had been.
But no regrets, good experience for me. Now that area of land is all in sugar, 1st harvest last week.
Rest is in eucalyptus for paper pulp - as per in back of some pics
Tractor-prepared land and the short sticks of cane are planted for the next crop.
signs of life as the canes sprout
Dug up by tractor, taken to the weigh station and sold
Returns - let's just say 'limited' after drought then flood.
We did save some costs getting tractor/plowing at reduced (b-in-law) rate but it all adds up. Costs included labour for cutting the canes of previous crop, tractor and labour for harvest of tubers, transport to weigh station, then start over with tractor for plowing, ground prep and fertiliser spreading, planting, weed spraying . . . back to cane cutting