Kiponzelo - CVP Report Mar 16-2010

2010 CVP
Companion Village Project
Visit Report
1st Visit Year One
March 16th, 2010

Village KIPONZELO
Pastor JEZBELI NDENDYA
Companion Gustavus Adolphus Luth. Church
Attendees 18 people ( Including 1 non- Lutheran person)
Weather for the past month Little rain
Reporters Ibrahim, Gabriel, Roger and Pastor Lunodzo

Purpose of the visit
• Introduction of the program
• Deliver a hand hoe and box file
• Taking soil sample for analysis
Topics
1. Greetings
Pastor Lunodzo Mang’ulisa gave greetings from DIRA to the people and introduces staff of Institute of Agriculture. He encouraged people to attend seminars and follow the techniques taught, this will help them move to the next level in terms of farming.

Roger gave greetings from Gustavus Adolphus, Saint Paul Area Synod and US Ag Advisory Committee.
2. Went through the handouts
o 1st Visit handout- DIRA and Institute of Agriculture Village Plot Agreement.
o CVP- Record of Events handout.
o Chronological Plot management of crops handout.
3. Demonstrations
We explained procedures of taking soil sample and the importance of doing soil analysis, then after we took the soil sample it was labeled and packed in small bags.

Comments
 The population is 3,600 people. Villagers have been using fertilizer such as Minjingu Phosphate, DAP for planting. Urea and CAN for second fertilizer application. Also they have been using improved corn seeds such as H628 and local seeds. Major crops grown in this village are corn, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, sunflower, peanuts and peas. Normally they don’t experience drought, and the rainy season is December through April. Average yield for corn is 3-5 bags per acre.




Questions from audience and answers
 They asked how fertilizer is applied during planting corn seeds.
We told them, they should place one full bottle cap 5 cm away from the seed and the second one the other side about 5 cm. That will avoid the detrimental effect that can be cause by placing fertilizer to close to the seed before germination.
 If they don’t have enough fertilizer as we recommend what they can do?
We told to them to use manure (compost) or to go for large spacing that will give them appropriate plant population per area.
 What is the best fertilizer for potatoes production?
We told them is NPK which contain all three major nutrients.
 What beans yield should they expect from 1 acre plot?
We told them 10 to 12 bags per acre. (1 bag is equivalent to 100 Kg)
 They have been farming/produce potatoes and experienced some sort of rotten plants, what might be a cause?
We told them that may due to the use of poor germinating materials and that they should use certified seed. Planting potatoes year after year on the same farm could also cause this situation.
 They went to their local government extension officer and they were advised to apply second fertilizer after 50 days. Is that right?
The answer is yes, we are recommending them to apply second fertilizer at knee high and that is almost the same as 50 days.
 Is it OK to mix CAN and UREA for second fertilizer application?
No, we are recommending them to apply one kind of fertilizer at a time (based on the soil analysis results).
Will the soil sample taken in the demonstration plot be different from the soil at their farms?
Soil analysis is expensive, the results of the soil samples taken will be representative and will not have much different in terms of nutrient level with their farms.

Conclusions/Recommendations
We emphasized the importance of following instruction because the success of the program depends upon them following what we instructed. Also we encouraged them to visit Ihemi Parish which is their headquarters to see a demonstration plot. They promised to follow all the instructions.