Nduli-Christ the King; CVP Visit Report for July 26, 2011

2008 CVP
CompanionVillage Project
6th Visit Year Three
July, 26 2011
Village Nduli
Pastor Laiton Muyinga
Companion Christ the King Lutheran, New Bringhton
Attendees 10
Weather for the past month Dry
Reporters Nafeti, and Pongolani

Purposes of the visit
• To collect the yield measurement
• To deliver grain storage chemical “Shumba”
• 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. Harvesting
Both corn and beans have been harvested. The yield this year has been higher than those of last two years.

Crop Corn Beans
Yield per ½ acres 12 bags 3 bags

3. Storage
We instructed them on how to store grain for home usage and for selling at the time of high price. We instructed how to mix grain storage pesticides “shumba” and the appropriate volume of grain per bottle recommended. We left the pesticides to them to mix with their harvested grains.
4. Discussions about the farming season
They like the corn and bean variety. During the growing season they managed the plots as they were instructed that is why they harvested more than normal farmers could harvest. When they planted they experienced drought but leaving crop residues on the ground helped to retain moisture.
5. Adaptation
Majority of the attendees said they have been practicing some of the techniques we have been teaching them. They have been experiencing higher yields than they usually used to farm. The parish also ranked first in Iringa municipal and they were invited to attend the zonal agricultural fair in Mbeya and they were given a place to display the crops they are producing.


Comments/questions
 How long they should store the grain when mixed with pesticides before they can use? If they use shumba as storage pesticide they should keep for six months before they can use. And if they use pesticide apart from shumba they should read the instructions to see how long they should store.
 They wanted to know if the institute has plans to start buying crops from farmer. We told them that currently there are no such plans we are teaching they how to grow more and store the produce so that they can sell at the time when prices are higher.

Conclusion
We congratulated them for the good job they have done in the demonstration. We encouraged them to adapt the techniques.