Ifuwa - CVP Report Mar 22-2010

2010 CVP
1st Visit, March 22, 2010


Village Ifuwa
Pastor Gervas Nziku
Companion Lord of Life, Maple Grove
Attendees 45
Elevation 1152m
Weather The area have normal rainfall seasons
Reporters Gabriel, Ibrahim, Roger and Rev. Lunodzo

We had to drive in very rough road to reach this Parish. We are not sure if this road is passable during the heavy rain season. The village seems to undergo unexpected drought. Corn plants are at the tasselling stage and they suffer a serious lack of rainfall. The villages have told us that, it has been a month now since the last rain. It seems like they are going to have very poor crop harvest this year. We had big crowd here. The village chairman with three other village leaders attended. There was also a representative from the nearby Pentecostal church.

Purpose of the visit
• Introducing the CV project to the congregation
• Taking the soil samples for soil analysis
• To deliver box file and a hand hoe
Topics
1. Introduction
Pastor introduces the Evangelists, Church elders and the village chairman. The village chairman introduced to us other three village leader that accompanied him.
Rev. Lunodzo Mang’ulisa introduces the project by encourage attendees to participate in the project. Roger gave the greetings from St.Paul Area Synod and Lord of Life.
2. Handouts
The handouts were distributed to all then reviewed
• CVP Plot record of events
• DIRA – Institute of agriculture agreement
• Chronological Plot Management of Crops Planted in November/December 2010
• CVP Instruction – 1st Visit
3. Agricultural background of this area
The village population is 1850, with 376 families. Farmers here grow corn, beans, sunflower and ground nuts (Pea nuts). Some of the famers use improved seed varieties of corn; Hybrids (H625 and H628) and others use local varieties. Some also use improved seed varieties of beans which they could just identify them by color (Not names). Most of the famers do not use fertilizers. The corn yield here is 8 bags/acre and beans is 2bags/acre. We told them that the aim of the demonstration plot is to let them to learn the techniques which will enable them to harvest more than 20bags of corn/acre and at least 10 bags of beans/acre.

4. Soil sampling
After the meeting in the church we went outside. Together with the members of congregation we took soil samples from 4 points around the church, places where the demonstration plot is expected to be. Two types of samples were taken, from 6 inches depth and 12 inches depth. The samples will be taken to the laboratory for soil analysis
Comments/questions from audience
• Since we teach them about minimum tillage, they asked us about those types of weeds which cannot be controlled with minimum tillage?
We told them that if they start to do weeding in the middle of the summer when there is no rain, most of the weeds and their roots will dry out. However for those places with highly infestations of these types of weeds, it will be good idea to dig them up and leave on top of soil to dry out.
• They were worried that the crop residues might be a problem at the time they make holes using hand hoes if they do not burn them
We told them, if the crop residues are problem at that time, they should put them in between the lines to make spaces for making holes. However most of the places, with demonstration plots already established, this has not been a problem. They left the crop residues scattered and they were able to make holes for putting seeds.
• They said that they were told sometimes the crop residues can cause plant diseases to the new plants if farmers do not get rid with them
We told them that plant pests and diseases caused by the crop residues can easily be controlled by crop rotation. We are going to teach them about the crop rotation in our next visits.
• They were wondering where they can buy improved seeds varieties of beans with reliable availability
We told them that this year we bought improved seeds varieties from Government research center called Uyole in Mbeya. However since the demand for the improved bean seeds varieties are low in Iringa, most of this seeds are not available in the local shops. However they can buy from this research center and the research center will transport to them

Conclusions
Many people here seem to be interested with the demonstration plot. We told them that we will be back in August for more demonstrations and establishment of the demonstration plot in their area.