Nduli – 4th visit

Partner: Christ the King, New Brighton, Minn.
Wed., January 28, 2009
Pastor: Laiton Muyinga

Roger was incapacitated and did not participate in the visit today.

The plot looked very good except that it hasn’t had enough rain. Even without rain the plot looked better than surrounding fields in the community. The corn was very dry and the leaves were curled. They have not had any rain from January 2 till now (the 28th). The average row spacing was 60 cm, and there were an average of one plant every 25 cm of row.

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

Ibrahim went through the hand outs. 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.

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:
· Appropriate fertilizer use, this helps him to be able to take a loan to purchase fertilizer to use on his farm without hesitating.
· Plant spacing, planting one seed per hole has resulted in more vigorous plants on his farm.
· One farmer said he is old and regrets that this program came along very late in his life. He is happy with this CVP program help, the rows look great.
· Putting crop residue in rows and letting it incorporate into the soil.
· Minimum tillage.
· Less expensive practices.
· They like not burning.
· She is happy with single crop in one area
· She understands very well about proper weeding.

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 corner of the hoe, or if the ground is hard dig a continuous trench 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.

Photo link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21557421@N08/sets/72157604418504820/detail/