Itungi - 4th CVP Visit

Thurs., January 29, 2009
Partner: Como Park, St. Paul, Minn.
Pastor: Damion Ndangando
Intern: Nuru Makweta

At breakfast in the pastor’s house we learned that their daughter Joyce is the pastor at Kidabaga. We also learned that the intern Nuru is a student at Tumaini in the Diploma in Theology program (probably sponsored by one of the companion congregations) and expects to graduate in October 2009.

We drove to the site of the plot. The plot had to be moves from the preferred location near the church because that plot had gotten burned. This resulted in their getting a late start with this plot. The corn was planted on December 29, which I think is the latest planting date for any of the CVP plots. Even with the late planting date the corn looked good, it was almost knee high 31 days after planting. The corn was a very uniform height. Because of the late planting the CVP plot is behind some of the village plots, but I expect that is going to change in the next month or so. The first weeding was taking place when we arrived. The pastor and 16 others were almost completed with the weeding. They had not started weeding the bean plot yet, and the weeds were two to three feet tall.

The rows were quite wide from 70 up to 120 cm wide. The attendees were surprised that the rows were that far apart. These were the widest row spacing that we have seen. There was an average of one plant every 28 cm of row. We spent quite a bit of time talking about the proper row and plant spacing. We are trying to properly fertilize high plant populations in order to maximize yield, but we need to have the correct spacing to achieve the high plant populations. I’ll bet that the beans will be planted closer to the targeted spacing, and that next year the corn will be planted in higher plan populations.

Today we delivered 100 kg of NPK, 100 kg of CAN, 16 kg of Uyole Market seed, and I bottle of Thionex.

We met under a tree in the plot. Ibrahim went through the handout for the 4th visit. He emphasized the importance of weeding, that lack of weeding can be the biggest deterrent to crop yield. He also emphasized seed spacing at planting, since we are trying to fertilize high plant populations to maximize yield it is important to properly space the seeds so that we actually get high plant populations. He also went through Record of Events handout and showed them how to record specific events.

Ibrahim demonstrated the placement of the second application of fertilizer (CAN) 5 cm on each side of the corn plants. The fertilizer should be placed 5 cm from the plant along side of the row and not in the row. Ibrahim demonstrated how to plant and fertilize the bean seeds. First dig a row or trench with the hoe by digging at 90 degrees to the direction of the trench. Place the bean seeds 9 cm apart, or about the width of one’s fist, and then place one cap of fertilizer between the bean seeds. Finally cover the bean seeds and fertilizer with soil. If there is any fertilizer left over it should be broadcast over the entire plot.


Ibrahim asked if they have experienced any benefits from the teaching we have done and the demonstrations that have been conducted. Some of their responses were:
· They appreciated learning the new farming techniques.
· They were happy to see different and better ways of farming.
· Leaving residue in the rows is a new technique, but it seems to work well.
· Minimum tillage saves time and money.
· They used to plant corn even wider apart than what the CVP plot turned out to be; now they can see the advantages of high plant populations.
· They like the idea of one crop in the field at a time.

There weren’t any comments about fertilization, but I think that the late planting date has not allowed the impact of fertilization to be realized.

Photo link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21557421@N08/sets/72157604425908368/detail/