Ruaha-Mbuyuni CVP Visit Report - May 15-2012

2012 CVP Companion Village Project Visit Report 5th Visit 3rd year May 15, 2012. Village Mbuyuni parish Pastor Elia Konga Companion Holy Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church Attendees 7 Weather Sunny and hot Reporters Rev. Mangu’lisa, Venance and Pongolani 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 We demonstrated how to measure the 10 m row (in three different locations within the demonstration plot) for the yield determination; this was demonstrated by using a tape measure, tassels from plants within the 10m were removed to mark them for easy identification at the time of harvesting. Mbuyuni is a Parish in the dry and hot area of Iringa. For the past two years, the demonstration plot could not perform because of the drought condition experienced in this area. The Parishioners decided to move the plot to another place which is close to the irrigation ditch which supplies water for crops all the year around. According to the Pastor and parishioners, corn plants looked very well at the leafy stage, but when we visited we saw a very low plant population density and the plot was full of weeds. There were many gaps between plants and the ears were small. Obviously they will harvest little. They had not planted beans yet, but were preparing to plant it at the end of this month (end of May). Comments Parishioners see this year’s crop as a great success and hope to do their best in the next year. During the discussion they suggested to change variety of corn from Pioneer planted this year to Kilima which is common to their local condition and they believe it will perform better than Pioneer. We took their idea for discussion at the Institute. We advised them to adhere to the weeding norms as taught by the Institute and maintain proper plant spacing as recommended by the Institute. They mentioned a disease which attacked the corn leaves seriously to cause a decrease in productivity. After observing the leaves closely, I suspected a disease known as Gray Leaf Spot (GLS) also known as Cercospora Leaf Spot. They mentioned termite problem as serious as well and asked for help to curb it the next season. Conclusion The idea of moving the plot to a place near the irrigation ditch is positive idea, but they have to make some improvement on management principles such as; maintaining proper planting spacing, gap filling and weeding frequently as soon as weeds appear. The Institute of Agriculture may consider the idea of changing the variety. But it was learnt that villagers there prefer to grow paddy rather than corn. Probably more people would be more active to grow paddy rather than corn.