AS A FARMER, DO YOU PRACTISE MULCHING?

A warm regards to all my fellow steemians in this community, hope you all had a great day today.
I also want to sincerely believe that guys experience a boomer harvest of early crops like maize(corn) and melons etc. I thank God Almighty my own labour were rewarded.

Today I will love to use this medium to remind us all of the unique advantages and importance of applying mulching in our agricultural system of farming.
As seasoned and experienced farmers many of will agree with me that one of the challenges that we as farmers encounter as to do with weeds control, and if we ever hope to reap a good harvest at the end of the day, serious attention is highly recommended.
You guys will also agree with me that in most cases we all need to weed our farmlands up to three times before we can expect a good harvest. To some of us who practice commercial system of farming which entails the use of large number of farmlands this is not an easy task as this involve a lot of time, hard work, resources and sometimes a lot of money given the fact that you may not be able to do all the weeding yourself.
To some of us in field, the practice of spraying chemicals as a means of weed control may at times seems okay and practical.

. But it is interesting to note that apart from the fact that this chemicals are now very costly it also has its own limitations and negative side effects on our farm products.
At this point I will like to suggest or recommend that as farmers we should give a serious thought to the practice of mulching.

Mulching as we also know as to do with the act of covering our farmland with large leaves, wood chips and grass straws especially around our plants.

This organic materials in turn serves as a barrier between the soil and the atmosphere. As we all know weeds compete with our crops for nutrients, water and sunlight and if allowed it will ultimately reduce the yield and quality of our harvest.
By putting those organic materials such as large leaves, wood chips etc on our farmlands, we create a barrier that works against the unwanted plants(weeds). This materials helps to block sunlight from reaching the weed seeds, thereby preventing them from germinating and growing in the soil. Apart from preventing the weed seeds from germinating, mulching also helps to kill existing weeds by depriving them of the resources they need to thrive.
Aside from serving as an effective way to weed control in our farmlands, I have also come to realized that mulching has many other benefits. For example when those organic materials such as large leaves and other things finally breakdown and decay over time thereby increasing the valuable nutrients in the soil. Mulching also helps in moisture conservation. By retaining moisture in the soil mulching reduces the need for frequent irrigation especially in areas that are prone to drought. Mulching also acts as a means to combat erosion because those materials we placed on the ground serves as barriers against the free flow of wind and rain water in our farmlands.
Well in areas or places where organic materials like large leaves and debris are hard to find, we can also make good use of inorganic materials like large plastic and even used cement bags can be used to prevent weeds from growing on our farmlands.
So my fellow steemians, so far we can see that the practice of mulching not only saves time, stress and resources but it also helps to improve the quality of our farmlands. So let's think more about embracing this natural way of weed control.