Ruaha Mbuyuni CVP Visit of Nov 10-09

2009 CVP
Companion Village Project
Visit Report
3rd visit Year One
November 10, 2009

Village Ruaha Mbuyuni
Pastor Elia Kango
Companion Holy Trinity, New Prague
Attendees 13 ( 11 Women, 3 Men)
Weather for the past month Rainy for the past couple of days
Reporters Gabriel Malima, Phil Larsen

Pastor has gone to Iringa town for the seminar. However he did delegate the power to Treasurer of the Parish. The Pastor’s wife was also in attendance.
Purpose of the visit
• Planting and fertilizer application demonstrations
• To deliver seed and fertilizer
Topics
1. Greetings
Phil provided greetings from Holy Trinity (New Prague), 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 by using a bottle cap, fertilizer was applied 5cm from the seed on each side.
4. Fertilizer and seed delivery
According to the soil analysis of the soil of this area, the type of fertilizer recommended for planting is NPK (10-18-24). The congregation was given 2 bags of fertilizer (NPK) and 4 bags of seeds Pioneer. The Pioneer seed variety is drought resistant and is suitable in this area.
Comments/questions from audience
 They asked why they should not use manure instead of industrial fertilizer
We told them that industrial fertilizers have known ratio of nutrients and they release nutrients quickly to the plants. However, whoever has ability to get animal manure is advised to use it together with recommended industrial fertilizers in the farm.
 Pastor’s wife comes from mountainous area in Iringa and she wanted to know if the corn variety (Pioneer) can be used even there.
We told her that, the Pioneer variety recommended is suitable to the areas which do not have adequate rainfall. Since the mountainous areas normally have adequate rainfall this variety may not be suitable for those conditions. The H 628 and H614 might be suitable in that area.

Conclusions/Recommendations
Their plot is about 8 km from the church. We could not reach there. We did the demonstrations outside the church.


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