Ifunda - CVP Report Mar 16-2010

2010 CVP
1st Visit, Year One
March 16, 2010


Village Ifunda
Pastors Jenock Mwilafi
Companion House of Prayer, Oakdale
Attendees 18
Elevation 1763m
Weather The area have normal rainfall seasons
Reporters Gabriel, Ibrahim, Roger and Rev. Lunodzo

In this visit we were accompany by the District Pastor of Ihemi; Rev. Askari Mgeyekwa. We planned to visit two sites today, Kiponzelo and Ifunda. We visited Kiponzelo in the morning and Ifunda in the afternoon. When we arrived in Ifunda, we met the Parish Pastor and few church elders. We had to wait for a while to get the good number to start with. As we continued the number kept on increasing.
Purpose of the visit
• Introducing the CV project to the congregation
• Taking the soil samples for soil analysis
• To deliver box file and a hand hoe
Topics
1. Introduction
Roger gave the greetings from St.Paul Area Synod and House of Prayer Lutheran.
Rev. Lunodzo Mang’ulisa introduces the project by encourage attendees to participate in the project. The District pastor also told the members that they should use this learning opportunity to improve their crop yields.
2. Handouts
After an introduction, the handouts were distributed to all then together with the participants we went through them.
• CVP Plot record of events
• DIRA – Institute of agriculture agreement
• Chronological Plot Management of Crops Planted in November/December 2010
• CVP Instruction – 1st Visit
3. Agricultural background of this area
The village consists of about 8,000 people and 1,500 families. It is semi-urban area with some of the people working in public institutions i.e. in 4 Secondary Schools. Farmers here grow corn, beans, potatoes, sun flower, tomatoes, cowpeas, cabbage and carrots. In farming corn they use improved seed varieties (H 628, H 625, H 614, MV2, SIDCO and PANA). They also use fertilizers (DAP, Urea and CAN). However the yields are not good. In average, they said they get 3 – 4 bags/ acre of corn. With the use of fertilizers, maximum yield one can get are 8 bags/acre.
4. Soil sampling
After the meeting in the church we went outside. Together with the members of congregation we took soil samples from 4 points around the church, places where the demonstration plot is expected to be. Two types of samples were taken, from 6 inches depth and 12 inches depth. The samples will be taken to the laboratory for soil analysis
Comments/questions from audience
• After been told that we will take soil samples for soil analysis, they were wondering how those samples will represent the entire village.
We told them that we cannot take soil samples from every farm. However we believe that soils of difference places in the same village do not differ much. The soil analysis results will represent the entire village.
• What criteria do we use in taking the soil samples?
We told them that the samples are taken randomly from four points within one acre. There should be no biasness in taking the samples.
• What layers of the soil are we going to take for soil analysis?
The samples will be taken from two layers; the depths of 6 inches and 12 inches
• Will we be visiting the farms of the members who follow our techniques from the demonstration plot?
We told them that by following what we demonstrate, that is exactly the aim of the project. We have been visiting some of the farms whose farmers have been following our techniques in other congregations. We cannot promise to visit every farm because we do have tight schedule to reach many congregations in the year. However we shall pay a visit to nearby farms and offer advice and consultancy whenever we are asked to do so.
• If the church does not have enough land close to the church, what should they do?
We told them, that the idea of having the plot near by the church is to give access to as many people as possible. If the church does not have enough land nearby , they can rent land for three years or buy (like other congregations did), However they can ask neighbors to use their land in exchange of letting them use the church’s land which is far from the church.
• We have been speaking about hand hoes, what about machines eg. Tractors, planters etc?
We told them that we teach basic farming practices, when people are familiar with these practices, they will be able to increase yields and have crop surplus. They can sell the surplus and start to buy machines like tractors and planters by themselves.
Conclusions
It has been a good start here. Members seem to be eager to learn the techniques we are going to demonstrate. We told them to decide where they want the plot to be because in the next visit, we will be measuring the plot with them.