Kivalamo July 23, 2010

2010 CVP
Companion Village Project
Visit Report
6th Visit Year Two
July 23, 2010


Village Kivalamo
Pastor Exaudi Mkeng’e
Companion Elim Lutheran Church, Scandia
Attendees 5
Weather for the past month Rainy
Reporters Ibrahim, Gabriel and Lunodzo

Purposes of the visit
• To collect the yield measurement
• To deliver grain storage chemical “Shumba”
• To do the end of season discussion and planning for the next farming season
Topics
1. Review of the handouts
• 6th Visit instruction handout
• Yield recording sheet
2. Yield records
(i) Harvesting
Crop Amounts in bags/ Acre Remarks
Corns 9 tins Poor yield due to mold problem
Beans No beans were planted

NB: They forgotten to record corn and beans yield in 10 meters, we really insisted them it is very important for them to record what we have instructed.

3. Storage
We instruct them how to store grain for home usage and marketing at the time of high price. We instructed how to mix grain storage chemicals “shumba” and the appropriate amount recommended per bottle. We left the pesticides to them to mix with their harvested grains.

4. Discussion about their growing season.

We discussed about problems occurred through their growing season, such as how the seeds given to them behave, in terms of germination, diseases, amount of rainfall received, current corn and beans price with reference to future price after harvesting season.
• Prices
The current corn price is 20,000/= per bag and price goes up to 40,000/= TShs per bag (2 months later), for beans is 40,000/= per bag and goes up to 100,000/= per bag.

NB: They told us they are not happy when the price of corn goes up because they don’t produce enough corn so they are supposed to buy instead of selling.

• Corn
Corn is already harvested however not yet shelled. The corn is highly affected by mold. It is really a huge problem we have to deal with to help them produce good yield.
• Beans
The beans were affected by fungal disease; even though they really like the seeds and wanted to know where they can buy it for their own farms. The yield is not good due to the drought that occurred, but still they said that variety yielded more than what they normally get from their farms.

Comments/questions
 The variety introduced to them is not suitable; because the weather is completely unpredictable they do receive excessively rainfall. In early August we are going to the State fair so we will check on one variety which tolerates moisture during drying. We believe this will be suitable for them.

 They said the program has been helpful to many congregation members. People are adopting the techniques even though they are using their own local seeds which tolerate moisture during maturity stage. There are dramatic increases in yield once they practice techniques taught.

Conclusion
We thanked all people who have been attending and doing a work in the plots. We insisted them to keep good records. When we visited State fair, we will buy seeds and ship fertilizer to them in August so that they plant as soon as possible (They are supposed to plant corn end of August or early September)