Mlafu - Our Saviors, Sillwater CVP Report July 28-2011

2009 CVP
Companion Village Project
6th Visit Year Two
July 28, 2011

Village Mlafu
Pastor Daiso Mpesa
Companion Our Savior’s, Stillwater
Attendees 12
Weather for the past month Rainy
Institute staff Gabriel and Rev. Mang’ulisa
Purposes of the visit
• To collect the yield measurement
• To deliver grain storage chemical “Shumba”
• End of season discussion and planning for the next farming season

Topics
1. Review of the handouts
• 6th Visit instruction handout
• Yield recording sheet
2. Harvesting
Both corn and beans have been harvested. This is one of the best parishes with high yield in the demonstration plots.
Crop Corn Beans
Yield per ½ acres 14 bags 4 bags
3. Storage
We instructed them on how to store grain for home usage and for selling at the time of high price. We instructed on how to mix grain storage pesticides “shumba” and the appropriate volume of grain per bottle recommended. We left the pesticides to them to mix with their harvested grains.We tested their grain dryness with the moisture test. We told them to dry a little bit more the (until the moisture content gets below 13%) before they store in the bags.
4. The last farming season
The corn variety is good and does not rot like that of last year. Bean variety is good, unfortunately it does not do well in the market. It is new to this area and hence most of the buyers are not familiar with it.
5. Adaptation
Most of the farmers would prefer to adopt the techniques. However, the main limitation is the lack of the ability to purchase all the inputs required. Some of them have adapted few techniques like leaving the crop residues, minimum tillage and close spacing.

Comments/questions
 The techniques are good although minimum tillage requires much weeding. They have a problem with the access of the inputs. Fertilizers and seeds are getting more expensive from one year to another. Moreover there is the market problem. Prices are too low and sometimes they do not cover up the production costs. We told them that they should think of establishing self help groups and saving cooperatives to help them finance their agriculture activities.
Conclusion
We told them that their demonstration plot is one of the best plots in the region. We thank them for the hard work they put and the good management they provide in the demonstration plot. We encouraged them to adopt the techniques.