Kidabaga CVP Visit of Nov 3-09

Companion Village Project
Visit Report
1st visit Year Two
November 3rd, 2009



Village Kidabaga
Pastor Joyce Ngandango
Companion Faith Lutheran Church, Forest Lake
Attendees
Weather for the past month
Reporters
5 (all were church leaders)
Sunny and dry
Ibrahim Wikedzi and Fred Bergsrud

We started the meeting with only church leaders, Pastor, Internship theology student from Tumaini, Two evangelists and general secretary of the Parish. We reminded them the training is for all people, so they should invite other people too. Meeting was conducted at the preaching point-Ilamba.

Purpose of the visit
• Planting and fertilizer application demonstrations
• To deliver fertilizer (Note: Seed will be shipped later due to getting ordered seeds late from dealer.
• Deliver a rain gauge (Note: We will send at the time we ship seeds.
Topics
1. Greetings
Fred gave greetings from Saint Paul Area Synod, Faith Lutheran of Forest Lake and US Advisory Committee especially Will Carlson
2. Review of Handouts
o Fertilizer need template was filled and left to the box file of the congregation
o Plant population handout was reviewed
o Fertilizer application handout was reviewed
3. Rain gauge
When a rain gauge is received, they should start using and recording. We explained the advantages of taking rain measurements, where to place the rain gauge and how and when to take the readings.
4. Demonstrations
Their old half acre plot had small trees last year and now they are big enough to cause a significant effect on the crop growth and also the plot was not owned by the church. They bought land for the church now so we will be using that this year. But the half acre plot we used last year at Ilamba preaching point will be used this year too.

It is there second year training, we did a refresh training on how to measure inter row spacing (60cm) and intra row spacing (20cm). Using a string and a hand hoe, it was how to plant seeds and apply fertilizer.

Fertilizer and seed delivery
According to the soil analysis of the soil of this area, types of fertilizer recommended are NPK (10-18-24) and CAN (27-0-0). The congregation was given NPK 2 bags. They were told to apply this fertilizer at the time of planting. CAN will be delivered later for second fertilizer application.

Comments/questions from audience
 They asked the importance of crop rotation between beans and corn
We told them it helps to break disease cycle, efficient utilization of nutrients available in the soil and also the bean crop helps to fix nitrogen in the soil.
 They asked when they replant seeds should they also use fertilizers.
We told them no because fertilizers will be still in the ground.
 They asked should they mix CAN and UREA and apply as a second application.
We recommended them not to mix rather apply it separately and in most cases only one kind between CAN and UREA will be recommended to be used.

 SACCOS is working, the amount of money they do have for loans is US $1000.00 they were able to loan to about ten people. They told us they are about to write an annual report to Faith Lutheran Church, Forest Lake. They will not have money to loan now until late December so it will not be useful for starting this year’s crop.

Conclusions/Recommendations
They really appreciate the idea of using strings during corn planting. We highly recommend them to follow all agronomic practices we are teaching and they will be successful in the crop production, we referred to other CVP’s like Kilolo which harvested 11 bags and 3 tins of shelled corn from half acre plot. They only harvested 5.5 tins (less than a bag) and at preaching point harvested 1 tin of shelled corn.