Ilambilole
January 25, 2012
This is the fourth year for the CVP plot at Ilambilole. The plot looked very good the corn was waist to thigh high, and the spacing was very close to the recommended 60 by 20 cm.
They had their first rain on Dec. 6, and have had 15 rainfall events for a total of 162 mm or 6.4 inches. They said that this is more than they would normally expect to get at this time of the growing season.
There were 10 people in attendance, five female. At the time we asked six out of nine people said they were using the CVP techniques on their own farm. My rough approximation is that after the first year 25% of the people asked say they are using the CVP techniques on their own farm, after the second year it is 50% and after the third year it is about 66%. Two people told interesting stories.
Biata Mjimba from the Chalinze Preaching Point told us she was using the techniques. In 2010 when we visited after the first year she told us she was a widow, she farms two acres and often had a hard time growing enough corn to feed her family. The previous year she had tried the CVP techniques and harvested more corn than she had ever harvested. She was able to feed her family and then sell some corn to get money for school fees and set some aside for medical emergencies.
This year she told us that she continues to experience increased yields by using these techniques. She doesn’t burn the crop residue, but allows it to decompose into the soil. She uses Pioneer Hybrid seed and plants the seed in 60 by 20 cm spacing. She applies cow manure at the time of planting, and she makes an application of nitrogen fertilizer when the corn is knee high. Her farm was visited by village officials who were so impressed that they designated her farm as a place where people can go to learn good farming techniques and they direct people to go there.
Kornel Lihweula from the Matembo Preaching Point told us that he has experiences increased yields by using the CVP techniques. He doesn’t burn the crop residue, but he used a tractor to plow his field. He used Pioneer Hybrid seed planted in 60 by 20 cm spacing. He applied DAP fertilizer at the time of planting and made a second application of nitrogen fertilizer when the plants were knee high.
His farm is also an example in his village, and people are directed to his farm to observe the techniques he is using and the results he is obtaining.
At harvest they mix the shelled corn with a storage chemical and store it in bags in a room in their house. During tea in the pastors house one of the women brought in a small sample of corn that had been stored in a bag without storage chemical, and there were a lot of little bugs, shaped like a very small elephant, crawling around. One could see kernels where they had hollowed out the entire kernel. If one used storage chemical the bugs don’t do that much damage. One also needs to have a cat to keep the rodents away.
At harvest they received 35,000 tsh per bag, now the price is 32,000 tsh per bag. They expect that next month the price will be lower. This is not the usual pattern for the price of corn. They don’t know what has happened this year, but they thought that since the government closed the boarders to the sale of corn, the internal market has become saturated keeping the price low.
They said they would store the parish crop and maybe the pastors and evangelists crops in a silo if they had one, but would not store individual grower’s corn. They would have to work out a system of how to keep track of how much corn each person had before they could do that. If the silo is successful I expect they will figure out a way to do that.
They have a SACCOS with 64 members. The SACCOS is four years old and they have been granting loans for two years. They have 12,000,000 in capital. They are in the process of getting registered. This year there was more demand than there was capacity. They have been through training two times. They have elected officers and have their own system of administration. They have an office in the kindergarten building. This year they plan to build their own building.
I complimented the pastor on their choir that sang at the Sunday service at Nduli last week. He asked a number of questions about the economic development projects at Nduli. He asked about the sunflower milling machine, the bee hives and honey, the peanut butter machine and the farming activities. I also told him about the dairy goats, piglets and chickens. He said they were aware of a number of these projects, but needed to learn more.
On the drive back Gabriel and I talked about how these economic development projects would be part of the extension network that is planned as phase two of the CVP program. If by providing education and demonstration we can help improve the lives of people in the villages that would be a good thing. We also talked about how we might go about getting half a dozen mud silos built in selected villages that have successful CVP plots.
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