Installation of 23 Center Pivot in Pakistán

The Government of Sindh intends to install 23 Center Pivot Toeable Sprinkler Irrigation Systems, one each of 50 acres, at each district of the province. The list of districts: Hyderabad, Karachi, Thatta, Matiari, Jamshoro, Dadu, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Tando Mohd Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Umer Kot, Nawabshah (Daur), Naushehro Feroze, Khairpur (Nara), Tharparkar, Larkana, Ghotki, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Kambur-Shahdadkot, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Shikarpur.

The firms already pre-qualified / short-listed with the Government under WC & PE-HEIS project would be required to:

• Design and prepare material & cost estimates with the consent of farmers
• Get it authenticated from consultants and approved from the Project Director
• Install the complete system on farmers’ fields with all diesel, electrical and water hook-ups / accessories within this financial year 2005-2009
• Operate the system to the satisfaction of the farmers and line agencies on turn-key basis
• Provide O & M for one year, after the installation within estimated cost (warranty period) and from 2nd year to successive five years at an agreed O & M cost
• The firms would be required to provide training to the farmers

The format for submitting rates can be purchased from the office of the undersigned on payment of Rs.3000.00 during office hours. The firms are required to submit their sealed offers for the cost estimates. The offers will be opened by the Technical Committee of the Department in the committee room of Directorate General, Agricultural Engineering & Water Management Sindh, Hyderabad, in the presence of the representatives of the respective firms, if they so desire.
The Project Directorate, with the approval of competent authority, reserves the right to accept or reject any or all offers without assigning any reason.

Man survives three storms in three years

Three times is not a charm for Joe Johnson. The Stafford County farmer is tired of severe weather after getting hit three years in a row. In 2007, the Greensburg tornado destroyed his home south of Macksville. The damage was so extensive he and his wife, Marsha, moved to another house west of Macksville. In 2008, a tornado damaged that home and some of his farm equipment. Then Monday, severe weather destroyed his irrigation pivot and sheered off some of his corn crop.
"The replacement value of the irrigation pivot is around $85,000 to replace so it's going to be expensive to fix it," said Johnson. "After three years of this, I wish the tornados would go bother someone else."
His neighbors joke he should move. But just like the ups and downs of farming, Johnson says he's here to stay. He says he'll weather whatever Mother Nature brings next.

Good progress with potatoes

Things have certainly become very busy on the farm since my last instalment. Here at North Paddock potato planting is well under way. The harsh winter has produced a good friable tilth and seedbeds are excellent.
We farm potato hills in the autumn using a Dammer-Diker. This is a great bit of kit. Sub-soiling legs travel down the centre of each hill, followed by bulking bodies forming the hills. A novel wheel then digs small divots in between each hill. In winter these help trap snowfall and increase moisture accumulation; during the season they assist with drainage and prevent irrigation run-off.
In spring we simply travel over the hills once with a packer to firm them up and break any remaining clods, and then they are ready for planting. A warm period of weather with temperatures as high as 26ºC has seen tubers going into lovely warm seed-beds.
The output and accuracy of our 6-row Spudnik planter is good; planting 60 acres a day (half a Pivot circle) and achieving 92% efficiency.
Good progress was being made until very suddenly the clouds appeared, snowfall started and all fieldwork subsequently ground to a halt. I write this column after a week of temperatures hovering around zero with regular snowfall. At least it will provide good moisture for emerging potatoes and good conditions for seeding grain and canola. I shall be patient and return to the hobby which occupies farmers all over the world - checking weather forecasts.

Family's farming roots

Although Jake has been an entrepreneur in agribusinesses such as starting the grain elevator here and raising hogs as a young man, he never ventured too far from his roots as a dirt farmer. "My grandfather was my hero," he said. "He and his brother, Jim, came from Hillsboro by covered wagon in 1903 and purchased land which remains in the family today".

"I owe everything I own to the perseverance of Grandpa. My grandparetns first bought 500 acres of brush-covered land 2.5 miles north of Vancourt for $2.50 per acre. They cleared the land and four years later purchased addition adjoining land for $7 per acre. My dad and his brother, Sam, helped Grandpa raise cotton, milo and registered Hereford cattle on the stockfarm," Jake said.
"Before they owned a tractor, they broke the cropland with mule-drawn plows. At harvest time, they would have to pull the cotton bolls by day, and at night they would pull the cotton out of the bolls." From those early years to the present generation, the advancement of technology and diversification has brought changes to the Powell farm.
Irrigation and modern harvesters have not only increased the proficiency of production, but genetically improved cotton varieties have increased the yield.
"My family was born with farming in their blood. My grandfather also liked the ranching business. He had 100 head of registered Hereford. My father also liked the cattle business. When I started working with my father, he sort of turned the farming over to me and he stayed with the cattle. Actually, I was in my second year at Southwest State College in San Marcos when my father was in the hospital with back problems. I came home to keep the farm going and never went back to college".
"I have always loved farming. I enjoy watching the crops grow. It is unique that all of the land purchased by my grandfather remains all together. Between my cousin, and I, we are still operating it. I concentrate on farming only."
"I also had ranching interest for years in Menard and Concho counties, but sold that property several years ago. I also tried several ventures early in my life which no doubt helped hold on to the farm. I had a 200-sow confinement operation in the 1960s and 1970s and sold most of the swine. In 1974, with partners, we built and operated the Vancourt Grain Elevator. I was running the hog operation during the same period, so I was mixing the hog feed, which saved on input costs. The farm has good water wells, so irrigation was installed about 25 years ago. It is ideal for this part of the country where we have more dry years than rainy ones. With the Pivot Irrigation Systems, there is always something green and growing on 650 acres of farmland".