Mlafu CVP Visit Report - Aug 1-2012

2009 CVP CompanionVillage Project 6th Visit Year Three August 1st, 2012 Village Mlafu Pastor Daison Mpesa Companion Our Saviour’s Stillwater Attendees 12 Weather for the past month Dry Reporters Gabriel, Itiweni, 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 record was as follows: Crop Corn Beans Yield per ½ acres 12 bags 3.5 bags Some amount of corn estimated to be about one bag was rotten. 3. Storage We instructed the parishioners on how to store grain for home usage and for selling at the time of high price. 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 Corn variety was noted to be partially good. It yields higher than the local variety although a little of it was rotten. They suggested having another variety of corn for trial in the next planting season so that they can make comparison with the current one. The bean variety was noted as good too. 5. Adoption Some of the parishioners have adopted some of the techniques. The Pastor showed us his plot and we could see corn planted in rows with spacing slightly wider than the spacing used in the demonstration plot for the reason that he used a less quantity of fertilizer than the demonstration plot. Comments/questions  The parishioners showed interest by asking many questions about insect pests and insecticides, corn varieties and crop subsidies.  They expressed a great potential for bee keeping in the area because they said they have a good land with plenty of varieties of flowers and a good supply of water. A few of them were keeping bees locally. Conclusion We congratulated them for the good job they have done in the demonstration. We encouraged them to adopt the techniques taught. The Pastor and Parish members were happy with the performance of the corn and beans demonstration plots.