What if there are too many stones in the planting field?

So I asked myself this simple crop field question because it happens a lot of times and we all have to deal with it. What happens when you've got too many stones in your planting area?

You realize the stones are basically in every location at any time and you've spent the entire morning taking them out to put them in a bucket to remove from above, but when next season comes, the stones are back on top of the soil because the earth shifts and the rain moves things, the rocks and stones gets displaced so easily..

Some Northern Region farmers in Ghana chose to plant their cassava between the rocks, the cassava will most definitely be able to make it through the rocks and stones. The yam is capable of growing between the rocks too, but some crops like the maize will have an issue with that.

One time there was a lady with a basket of roasted plantain located around Kantamanto who was talking about her brother's maize field in Assin. She said that the whole area was full of rocks. He tried digging the rocks out for three years and used workers to do this and he spent so much money and never recouped any of it, and eventually he gave it up and went to raising goats.

His goats did more than well. I would say better than the maize most likely.

The issue is that there are two schools of thought, one is that you have to clear the stones as they are an impediment to success and the other says that they keep moisture in and also hold back soil erosion during the rains. Both things make sense but until you are the one holding the hoe and using it you do not really know what to do.

I do not know if a universal answer exists. The Ashanti farmers have different methods than the farmers of the Volta Region mainly because of the differences in the soils.

Sometimes you will just plant whatever survives, after that you will either know what works and what does not or you will have simply planted and then have counted the stones until your plant season was over.

_{Posted using SteemX}