Ihemi CVP Visit Report July 31-2012

20121 CVP Companion Village Project 6th Visit Year Four July 31st, 2012 Village Ihemi Pastor Anania Kadege Companion Christiania Lutheran, Lakeville Attendees 21 Weather for the past month Dry Reporters Gabriel, 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 Both corn and beans have been harvested. The corn was not yet threshed. The beans were threshed Crop Corn Beans Yield per ½ acres Not yet threshed 2.6 bags (15.75 tins) 3. Storage: We instructed the parishioners 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 Corn variety H 614 is good for Ihemi. It yields higher than the local variety. Bean variety “uyole njano” also was noted as good. The parishioners followed the farming techniques in the demonstration plot well, the dry spell in January – March affected the crops especially the beans. The pyrethrum was not doing well because of the drought which hits the area. 5. Adoption A good number of parishioners said they were adopting the techniques. Three retired pastors attended the gathering and all said were practicing the techniques and they have noted that they increased the yields. Comments/questions  We told them to apply the techniques in their plots because they were in their fourth year of the program and they will continue to receive farming knowledge through the extension program.  We asked them about the experience they have on bee keeping. They showed interest and some are already keeping bees by local methods. They thought bee keeping would make a good project because the village has land blessed with a variety of flowers, natural ecology and adequate water. Conclusion We congratulated them for the good job they have done in the demonstration plot. We encouraged them to adopt the techniques taught. The Pastor and Parish members were happy with the performance of their corn plot.