Practice of Fruit Production and Management: A Plan-Do-Check-Act Project

Plan: goal, jobs, dates

Start with a clear goal in numbers, for example 160 kg from 6 trees. Then list the jobs (prune, water, thin, net, pick, pack), who does each one, the dates, the tools and the cost. Check the weather season and safety rules (gloves, ladder, clean spray tools, adult help for any chemical).

Do: work and record

Do each job as planned and write it down the same day: date, job, what you used, how long it took, cost and a short note ("many flowers dropped after rain"). Take photos or measure with a ruler or scale. A true record is more valuable than a nice-looking one.

Check: compare with the goal

Add up the harvest and cost. Compare with the goal: 120 kg against 160 kg is a gap of 40 kg. Look through the record for causes: birds ate fruit, no thinning so fruit stayed small, poor soil, little water. Do not blame, just find facts.

Act: improve and report

For each cause pick one improvement and test it: thin fruit, add compost, add a bird net. Change one or two things at a time so you can tell what helped. Write a short report: goal, what was done, results (a table or bar chart), what you learned and what you will change. Present it to the class or the club. Then begin the next Plan.

Try it

1) In the 3D go to the last step and press the three improvement buttons in different combinations. Which pairs reach 160 kg? 2) At home or school, choose one plant and keep a one-month record. 3) Draw a bar chart of this month versus next month.

Key formulas and definitions

• Gap = goal − result
• Year 2 = Year 1 + gains from improvements
• Cycle: Plan → Do → Check → Act → (new Plan)
• Profit = income − cost

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Skipping the Check step and repeating the same mistakes.
• Changing many things at once, so nobody knows what helped.
• Writing records from memory a week later.
• Making a goal with no number, like "get more fruit".