Ilambilole CVP Visit Report - July 30-2012

2012 CVP Companion Village Project 6th Visit Year Four July 30th, 2012 Village Ilambilole Pastor Meshack Magova Companion Our Saviors Lutheran Church Attendees 19 Weather for the past month Dry and Clear Reporters Rev. Mang’ulisa, Pongolan and Venance 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: They harvested a little amount of corn. They had no harvest for beans this year as it has been the case in the past two years. They said the reason for bean failure was draught which hits the area severely. Crop Corn Beans Yield per ½ acres 2.3 bags Nil Such a yield is very low as compared to the yield of Nduli parish (12.8bags) of similar climate. 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. Discussion about the farming season: Since they failed to grow beans for the past three years and harvested very little maize, we discussed what can be done as alternatives. A woman explained how she grew very successfully cowpeas in the same situation using the seed available in the village under the guidance of the extension worker. We advised them to try cowpeas and sunflower as alternative crops because they will continue to receive extension education from the Institute. 5. Adoption: It was not easy to determine how many have adopted the techniques taught in the demonstration plot because it was not that much successful. Comments/questions  When we asked them about bee keeping, they showed a great enthusiasm. They said they had visited Nduli parish to study bee keeping, oil extraction from sunflower and peanut butter making. They had a meeting on 3rd April, 2012 to discuss on bee keeping and they had decided to establish 8 bee hives to start with. They thought their area had all the potential for bee keeping: adequate flowers, good supply of water, natural ecology and the honey produced is of high quality.  We are optimistic that the parish has a potential for honey production. Conclusion We encouraged them to think of the alternative crops; cowpeas and sunflower because they are drought resistant crops and think of bee keeping.