Ipogoro CVP Visit of Nov 12-09

2009 CVP
Companion Village Project
Visit Report
1st Visit-YEAR TWO
November 12, 2009

Village Ipogoro
Pastor Nixon Mwitula
Companion Augustana, West St. Paul
Attendees 20
Weather for the past month Rainy for past couple of days
Reporters Gabriel Malima, Phil Larsen

We met almost all the evangelists from all the preaching points of Ipogoro. They had been in a meeting which was conducted before starting ours. We told Pastor that next time he should invite everybody to the demonstration day of the Institute.

Purpose of the visit
• Planting and fertilizer application demonstrations
• To deliver seed and fertilizer
Topics
1. Greetings
Phil provided greetings from Augustana (West St. Paul), Saint Paul Area Synod and US Advisory Committee
2. Going through the handouts
o Fertilizer need template
o Plant population handout
o Fertilizer application handout
3. Demonstrations
It was demonstrated how to measure inter row spacing (60cm) and intra row spacing (20cm). Using a string and a hand hoe, it was demonstrated how to plant and apply fertilizer. One seed was placed every 20 cm and a bottle capful of fertilizer was placed 5 cm. away on each of the seed .
4. Fertilizer and seed delivery
According to the soil analysis of the soil of this area, types of fertilizer recommended are NPK (10-18-24) and CAN (27-0-0). The congregation was given 2 bags of fertilizer (NPK) and 4 bags of Pioneer seed. The Pioneer variety is drought resistance hence is suitable in this area.

Comments/questions from audience
 They asked why they are going to use NPK instead of DAP in their plot.
We told them according to the soil analysis, their soil lacks Potassium which DAP does not have.
 They were wondering whether the same type of fertilizer should be used in all parts of their village.
We told them that we could not take soil samples for soil analysis from every part of the village; however we believe that one part of the village might be good representative of the whole village and the fertilizer recommendations in that part should be used in the whole village.
 They said they have heard fertilizer has chemicals that reduce life span of human being ( probably from the people teaching about organic agriculture)
We told them that fertilizers contain nutrients which are used by plants for their life and productivity. They are allowed and recommended because they have been proved to be safe for human life.
 One evangelist said he has been using DAP and he wanted to know how he can remove the DAP from his farm before start using NPK
We told them that there is no need to get rid of old fertilizer in the soil before starting using the new one. The old one has done its work and probably is no more in the soil due to being used or leached. However fertilizers just add nutrients in the soil, the old one and the new one do the same thing and they do not contradict each other.

Conclusions/Recommendations
The audience was very attentive and had many questions. It seemed as if we could not finish discussing with them. We told them we shall answer other questions in the next visit. We thanked them for the good work they did last year and for the good results they had in their plots.

NB:
• 1 bag of NPK is 50kg and 1 bag of seed is 2kg