Ipalamwa Parish - CVP Visit Report - Aug 23-2012

2010 CVP Companion Village Project 6th Visit Year Three August 23, 2012 Village Ipalamwa Pastor Ajenista Maliga Companion Mount Calvary Lutheran Attendees 06 Weather for the past month Dry and warm Reporters Rev.Mangu’lisa, Pongolan and Venance 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 were harvested. The yield of each crop was as indicated in the table below: Crop Corn Beans Yield in ½ acre 6 bags (42.5 tins) 2.3 bags (16.5 tins) This is midway yield; it is In between the highest and lowest yield. The parishioners expected to harvest more corn than what they got. The crop stand looked high when we visited last time. It was not obvious what had happened to lower the yield. 3. Storage: We instructed 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. 4. Discussion about the farming season: As mentioned above, the parish recorded average yield of both corn and beans. The parishioners had expected to harvest more than that. The seed they used was local. According to Pastor, the seed was taken several years back from Dabaga Seed Company once a government seed center for the highland areas, but no longer serving the purpose any more. My guess is probably the seed’s productivity has decreased, however, its quality looked excellent. It does not rot as our hybrid seeds. 5. Adoption Many people adopted some techniques and their plots performed better than before. We saw two corn plots which adopted the spacing on the way to the church. Comments/questions  The local variety of seed planted is OK since it does not rot. We think the same seed should be used in the other upland areas which have the problem of high amount of rain which extends up to June and cause rotting.  It is amazing to see the parishioners who are knowledge thirsty in this parish, they ask many questions about farming and they want to try. Conclusion The parishioners are now confident of some techniques such the right planting date for corn and beans, spacing and variety to plant after learning for two years. We encouraged them to continue trying the techniques.