Good morning from Serenje. Joy recently started her 3 week gig training the new volunteers near Lusaka (I’ll join her soon) and I’m in the midst of an HIV/AIDS training workshop. I thought I would take the opportunity to use the good internets here to update our blog and post a few pictures.
A few weeks back I put on my first ‘field day’ where I invited as many people as I could through formal written invitations, face-to-face meetings, and posters placed all around the community to come and see my small demonstration plot and learn about conservation farming. Joy and I spent the better part of a week riding around our catchment area advertising. Come game day about 40 people showed up, which I considered to be a pretty solid turnout. We started with a brief discussion of conservation farming principles, which briefly are a) minimum tillage, 2) residue retention (not burning your field), iii) crop rotation, and, lastly, timely planting. Then we walked 600 meters to my field where I explained in light detail what I did and how they could do it. I demonstrated the tillage technique of digging basins at proper spacing, how to properly apply lime and basal fertilizer and how to plant. I fielded several good questions and the farmers showed moderate interest in my legume crops (peanuts and soybeans). But by far the most attention was given to my maize (Zambia is maize crazy). At about 40m x 100m, my demonstration plot isn’t large, but I tell farmers that it’s my first time farming this way (or any way) and I did everything here myself working less than half time and putting in about 20 hours of total work since December. I know that they are better at farming than I am and I think they know that, but I also know that their maize doesn’t look like my maize and they see that. I think the field day upped my bush-cred and convinced some hesitant adopters that conservation farming can work – particularly in a year with low rainfall like this season. The whole process, from digging the field to hosting the field day, has been a very educational and productive experience. For me, it has helped bridge the gap between academics and real life while at the same time being a wonderful teaching tool. And I feel it has been more productive for my Zambian counterparts.
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A somewhat aerial view of my field. Maize on the left, peanuts on the right. Late maize demonstration towards the back and soybeans to the right of that. The small cleared portion on the far right is late planted velvet beans for soil improvement and fodder.
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Joey explaining signs of nutrient deficiency in maize at the field day.
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Our host father carefully examining my maize.
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Joy enjoying a cup of coffee in our favorite spot on our ‘couch’ with her new best friends, M.J., Junior, and Mudzillo [fire], the neighbor’s kittens.
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Me explaining soybeans and crop rotations during the CF field day.
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Faidherbia Albida (aka ‘Musangu’ trees) planted directly in my field at 10 m by 10 m spacing. These trees grow slowly, but supply the equivalent of about 300 kg of complete fertilizer beneath the canopy of mature trees and they drop their leaves at the beginning of rainy season so there is no competition for sunlight.
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Joy reading a book from our home library with one of our neighbors.
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