UNGAI SDA HIGH SCHOOL
work?
GRADE 8, MAKING A LIVING
TERM 2, WEEK 3
Strands: MANAGING RESOURCES
Units: Crop and Animal Management
Topics: Crop and Animal Farming
Lesson 3: Planning an Agriculture Project
The principles required to plan and implement a small
agriculture project
(i) Planning is a detailed proposal for doing or achieving
something in advance (what has to be done, when it should be
done, how it should be done and what is needed to do it)
(ii) Implementing – Is to put something into effect.
In order for an agriculture project to be successfully implemented,
planning must be properly done in advance. Planning involves
two areas:
Physical Planning and Financial Planning.
(1) Physical Planning means thinking about what physical
resource (people, facilities, equipment, tools, materials, markets)
are needed for the project. Physical planning must come first,
before financial planning. You must identify the resources before
you can say what they will cost or how much money you may
make.
(2) Financial Planning – means thinking about how much money
will be needed for the project and how much you might make or
save. Then you can decide if the project is financially worthwhile.
Initial financial planning should be done as soon as physical
planning is completed.
The above-mentioned points on physical and financial planning
are good, however, you can still follow these steps which will be
listed below to come up with a good plan.
(1) Investigate: in the form of questionnaire, seeking opinion or
conduct a survey on the possible existing projects.
(2) Plan and Design: Once a project is decided, work on an action
plan
(3) Implement the plan: Put the plan in action and work on a
project.
(4) Evaluate: Once the project has been completed, it is important
to evaluate it.
Resources: This factor covers time, cost, money, materials, tools
and facilities. You can select a project that suit the community
depending on the availability of materials.
Before you do that, here are some questions you must ask
yourself.
 How many people are willing and available to do the
 How soon will the project start?
 What are the costs involved?
 Where will the money come from?
 What materials are needed? Are they available?
 What equipment and tools are needed? Are they
available? What facilities (water, power, transport) are
available?
Location (site selection) This needs to be considered in selecting
your project. Choosing a good garden site is a very important
skill. It is a very important skill that Papua New Guinea farmers
have developed over thousands of years. Modern science usually
proves that the farmers’ judgment has been correct. Again, it is
good to have your project near a source of water, especially
during the driest part of the year.
An area that has a well-drained soil is best for food gardens. The
project whether crop or animal must be close to your house easy
reach and protection from people (thieves) and animals.
Viability: Before implementing the project, you need to do a
feasibility study to determine whether or not a project is viable,
practical, possible, feasible and within your capacity. There is no
point in planning to repair or improve something if you do not
have skills (ability) or resources to achieve your desired outcome.
Therefore, it is always analysis, see the strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threat before starting.
Below is an example of how you could do a feasibility study on
some projects you have in mind.
Project Options Viable (Can Do) Not Viable (Can’t
Do)
Pig Farming
Cattle farm
Vegetable gardening
(e.g. Cabbage, lettuce,
aibika
Corn gardening
Chicken farming
Vanila farming
Cocoa & Coconut farm
Pig Farming
Following are the processes and principles that one has to take
into consideration when implementing a project.
Labour
Labour is the physical work a farmer and his family do to produce
the food and materials they require to support themselves. In
Papua New Guinea, men and women leading a subsistence life
often do separate tasks. The men generally hunt and do the
heaviest clearing and cultivation; women do the lighter but no less
difficult tasks. Group work is common for heavy clearing, while
ownership and the day–to–day work in a garden is nearly always
an individual or small family task.
Changes to the traditional roles of men and women, and to the
nature of work in modern society, have had an impact on the lives
of people in Papua New Guinea, especially in rural areas.
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Materials and management practices
Modern agricultural systems create highly artificial environments.
Farmers plant vast populations of specific crops and in the process
kill other species. Thus, both the natural vegetation and a high
population of the animals, including useful insects and mammals,
are destroyed. Commercial agricultural systems have little
diversity and it is very hard to maintain environmental stability,
even for a short time. The soil is quickly depleted of nutrients and
pest numbers often increase dramatically and have to be
controlled.
Eventually some of these management processes will damage the
environment. For example: fertilizers that are not organic replace
nutrients, but they do not replace the humus that is necessary for
soil structure and continue to use it, eventually some pests become
resistant to this method of control. Humus improves the water-
retaining properties of soil, adds nutrients, and makes it more
workable.
In gardens there are many easy rules to follow that assist in
sustainable management practices.
Sustainable management practices.
Do not burn the ground: Cut the grass under wood and trees and
allow it to dry on the ground. This will mulch and protect the soil
until you are ready to plant
Because of this, we should change the place where we plant our
crops after each harvest. For example: if we grow a crop of corn,
we should next plant a crop that can put plant food back into the
soil, such as beans.
Three main groups of crops used in rotation are:
1. Heavy feeders for example, corn, and lettuce.
2. Light feeders for example Kaukau, and taro.
3. Nutrient givers for example winged beans, peanuts, and
makuna beans
Mixed cropping: Planting many different kinds of crops in one
area at the same time is called mix cropping. This method is
practiced in traditional gardens. There are many advantages to this
method: Crops help each other. For example, when corn and
beans are grown together, the corn shades the beans from the hot
sun. The beans in return, put nitrogen into the soil and this helps
the corn to grow well. This is known as companion planting.
Pest and disease control: when there is variety of crops, it is
harder for pests and diseases to spread into the whole crop.
Trees: Trees provide food, clothing and shelter. Now many
people live far away from trees and lose the benefits.
Composting: Natural plants and animals die or rot. This gives the
soil the organic substances it needs to feed other plants. The better
the compost, the higher the crop yield and the better the soil
structure.
Mulch: Dry grass (or other dry materials) placed on top of garden
beds or mounds prevents the soil from dying out. Mulch protects
the soil from heavy rain and slows the growth of weeds. It also
helps the ground to stay cool and wet during the dry season, and
provide plant nutrients for the growing crops.
Seed selection and planting materials: To have healthy and
productive crops, quality planting materials need to be used.
People should save the best of their harvest of seeds for the future.
Work the soil: When soil is turned over, air, water and nutrients
are mixed within the soil. This often loosens the soil and allows
crop roots grow deep into the soil.
Use fallow times: As fallow time becomes shorter, due to the
pressures of providing more food, it is important to plant desirable
fallow crops to ensure soil conditions remain constant and do not
deteriorate.
For this part of the lesson, we will choose a project where
sustainable management practices will be applied.
Enterprising projects
To make a living, people need to be enterprising. They need to be
creative, and imaginative in planning products or services that
people need or want.
 Agricultural
 Handicraft
 Hospitality and tourism
 Eco-tourism
 Walkabout sawmill
 Construction and maintenance projects.
The above are the different enterprising projects. Let us look at
why the agricultural projects are important.
Agricultural Projects
Agriculture is the main way people earn money in Papua New
Guinea. We can sell food crops such as pumpkins, potatoes,
cabbages, sugar cane, carrots, spring onions, and fruit such as
bananas, pawpaw, lemons, tomatoes, and pineapples. We can sell
cash crops such as cocoa, coffee, tea, spices, and vanilla.
We can sell eggs and other animals such as pigs, chickens, goats
and ducks. We can sell seafood such as fish, crabs, crayfish and
prawns. These items can be sold locally or in town markets or
shops.
Summary
The following are what you have learnt.
 The principle requirements in starting a small
agricultural project are firstly;
(i) Planning, how to go about the project, in detail state what has
to do, how much money is needed, when, type, when it is due and
Implementation, carry out the plan made and start working
(ii) Monitoring, checking to make sure that everything is running
smoothly as planned.
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(iii) Evaluate, to see that the outcome of the project is good and if 2. How can I produce it?
not, what are the things that did not get done well and how it can
be corrected Here you have to consider:

o Whether you have the knowledge and skills needed to

 Closing; the project must come to an end on the time
estimated.
 A survey will show the need for the project to go ahead
or otherwise. Details of the type, number of existing
projects, location, and length of time, will be covered in
the survey.
 A sustainable agricultural project is one that starts and
concludes on time.
 Sustainable management practices vary but should
follow this basic order; planning, implementation,
monitoring, evaluation and closing.
 When an agricultural project is selected and planned the
following factors must be taken onboard; resources,
location, viability and labour. A well-planned project
will produce good results for the owners.
Supplementary Reading: Project or Business
Farming is a business
A farmer is concerned with growing crops and looking after
animals. Another important part of his/her work is concerned with
buying and selling, and running a business. Following are some
points to consider when planning a project.
1. You must know how financial records of farming projects are
kept in order to tell if you are making a profit or loss.
2. Consider why some enterprises might be chosen by farmers
instead of others.
3. Learn and know how to make the decisions that will make a
whole project run successfully.
Planning and Budgeting
The basic questions a farmer asks himself are:
1. What can I produce?
2. How can I produce it?
carry through any project you might choose.
o The availability of inputs required.
o The expected yield of produce.
3. Can I sell it?
This is important. Before starting you have to be sure there will be
a market for the produce. You have to think about:
o Who will buy the produce.
o The distance from the market.
o The price expected for the produce.
o The competition from other people (producers).
4. Will it pay?
The project must be able to pay. So, you will think of:
o The expected returns.
o Whether these will exceed the costs, and
o By how much.
Practical work
Planning an agricultural Project.
 Choose any farming project that you could do (like
putting or growing cabbages).
 Pretend you are really intending to put this project into
effect in your community.
 Using the questions above as a check list, go through all
the factors you need to consider when planning the
project.
 Write down your answers to the questions as accurately
as you can, taking into account the true conditions in
your own area or community.
 Do you still think you can carry out the plan? If so, you
could be a farmer.

3. Can I sell it?

4. Will it pay?

1. What can I produce?

There are many possibilities, but they will be limited by the

resources available, such as:

o The climate and rainfall.

o The amount of land available, the type of soil and
altitude.
o The building available.
o Whether there is water for irrigation.
o The money available.
o The labour required.
o Pest and disease control.
o The type of garden tools.

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