Hello and greetings my amiable friends and colleagues on this platform, it's another week with a beautiful and amazing contest titled:"If you were given a free land, what would you cultivate?" Organized by @lhorgic here in #Nature-&-Agriculture.

Which I will be so delighted and happy to share with you all my opinion, views and perspectives towards this contest and as well give you all some few awareness about farming and how it contributes to our society and nations, but before then I will like to give a brief definition and meaning on farming as stated in the contest topic.
Farming as stated in this contest theme can be defined as the cultivation of crops and rearing of animals for consumption or commercial purpose,

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What's would you cultivate if given a large expanse of land?

It very obvious that many people are involved in subsistence farming because of lack of funds and land to carry on their plans which was supposed to commercial farming but thanks to the organizer of this contest for providing such an amazing contest for us to pour out our mind and plans if such opportunity will be given to us,

I have different crops I will like to cultivate if large expanse of land is given to me consider it been fertile and the money to carry on work is available, first here is Cassava I know most people will be wondering why I made mention of this particular crop instead of others but the reason i I will make mention of that below, Cassava is a root vegetable that underground at part of the cassava shrub, which has the Latin name "Manihot" also Known as ege (Yoruba Language), akpu (Igbo language) and rogo (Hausa language) this are the three major languages in Nigeria here.

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Why did you choose that particular plant/crop?

Here are the reason why I choose cassava....

• first cassava is the third-largest carbohydrate source in the tropics after rice and maize that's to say cassava is very rich in carbohydrates.
• cassava is among the most profitable food business such that it provides food for the nation and also making it a better and happy place to live.
• It can grow on marginal soils and can survive droughts as well as dry season.
• another reason for choosing cassava is because that one of the crop I farm most and I believe people go for what they know most because through this aspect they can be able to show their talents and skills.

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How long will it take to mature and harvest?

Cassava depends on the particular species, what am trying to say is that we have different species of cassava that have their own specific time to mature e.g we have the ones of 6(six) months, 1year that's equivalent to 12(twelve) month and some even take up to two years before mature all depends on the species and the soil fertility.

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What are the common pest and disease of that plant/crop. Also share how to control it.

In the aspect of farming pest and diseases remains one of the major problem we are having in farming sectors, so here are the common pest and diseases on cassava which are....

• Cassava pests. This is a serious cassava insect pest in the county
• Whiteflies are known for transmitting plant viruses that can cause physical damage to cassava and a vector for disease.
• there are other diseases and pest like cassava green mite, cassava mosaic disease, hornworms, whiteflies, mealybugs, lacebugs and stemborers e t.c.

Prevent/control

• Uprooting and burying or burning diseased plants or entire field.
• apply insecticide on the plants to kill insects and drove out insects from the farm.
• avoid the farm been covered by weed that's always make sure unwanted plants are removed because this will attract insects and pest to the farm.
• Planting disease-free (healthy-certified) cuttings are the most effective for minimizing the spread of the disease and pest in our crops

Conclusion

Farming is indeed a good and benefiting profession only if you know what you are doing, Because it gives us the chances and opportunity of providing food for the people and making the world a happier place to live, it as well has a high rate of occupational sectors e.g in my country Nigerian more than 50% of the country population earns their living through farming & agriculture that is to say farming provides jobs to a greater percentage of people in my country, also farming is good profession because it contributes greatly to support and growth of many countries national income, so if such an opportunity will be given out to people food scarcity and malnutrition will not finds a way to our homes and society any longer.

I have come to the end of this contest which I will like to call on the attention of @josepha @solperez @radjasaman to take part in this contest thanks.