Mlowa CVP Visit Report - May 17-2012

2012 CVP Companion Village Project Visit Report 5th Visit 3rd year May 17, 2012 Village Mlowa Parish Pastor Lunogelo Mbwilo Companion Christus Victor Lutheran Church Attendees 30 Weather Warm and Dry Reporters Don, Karen, Rev. Mangu’lisa, and Venance Purpose of the visit • To explain and demonstrate how to take yield measurement Topics 1. Went through the handouts o 5th Visit handout o Yield recording sheet 2. Demonstrations Corn plants were already harvested, therefore there was no any demonstration on how to measure yield on corn. It was demonstrated on how to measure yield on beans by measuring a 10m row, counting the number of bean plants within the measured row, harvesting the counted bean plants, threshing and measuring the volume obtained in liters. Plots information Mlowa plot is fed by irrigational water from the village ditch. The corn was already harvested and we could see stalks in the plot. Later on the day, we were shown the harvested corn in store. Corn in store looked ok and was estimated to be 7bags. Beans were excitingly nice, with heavy vegetation. They were planted in rows at correct spacing between lines and plants. They were forming pods and were no sign of diseases. However, a few beetles were seen flying around and eating bean plants. We advised them to spray thionex provided to them earlier to scare the insect. Comments Our visit coincided with an important church day known as ascending day, so there were many attendees who listened the teaching and asked many questions about good farming practices. They seemed interested with using the better farming practices taught to them. When asked about if they were applying the techniques in their personal plots, a number of hands were raised up to respond. Conclusion Although this area is very dry, still the parishioners can use the opportunity of the irrigation system available and the farming techniques to multiply their productivity to get rid of hunger and raise their income. It was encouraging to hear from them that they have increased their productivity from an average of 2bags per acre to 14 bags since the beginning of the CVP.