The Nhamatanda Director, Sr. Benendito Caetano of Agriculture opens the meeting
The 12 ladies who after being allocated land by the Organic Farmers Association initiated a market garden to grow vegetables organically.
After the meeting, we make our way to Sr. Herculano and the ladies market gardens for an impromptu field day.
Part
of Sr. Herculano’s machamba that has been prepared for flood
irrigation. Sr. Herculano purchased a motorised pump after 2 years
of using a manual pump and saving up enough money to purchase the
motorised unit. He pumps from the
We make off from Sr. Herculano’s machamba to visit the ladies market garden.
The tomatoes are looking great! Some are beginning to yellow so we showed the ladies how to apply fire ash as a top dressing.
The group listens while Sr. Herculano discusses how to make best use of the remaining tomato plants in the ladies nursery. Other farmers from the association will take plants to plant into their own machambas.
Vinho School and Nhamatanda Director of Agriculture Visit.
Immediately
after being welcomed at
The school director explains what has to be done to prepare the nursery to the children.
After
the mulch is removed the ground is tilled in
preparation to add compost.
Grass
piled on the edge of the machamba has composted
nicely. The children collect the moist, decomposing
organic matter from the bottom of the grass pile, to
add to the soil in the nursery seed beds.
The
compost is spread onto the prepared ground and mixed
into the soil of the seed beds.
When
the compost is mixed in well, the children pull soil
up to cover any exposed compost then level the
prepared seed bed.
The
seed bed is divided into 4 separate beds.
Beans
are planted between the beds to provide the seed
beds with Nitrogen. Each planting station is marked
with a stake.
The
children are each given 2 bean seeds which they
plant 3 paces apart, (2 seeds per station) Even the
little chap in the pic above! These bean plants will
provide N to the vegetables when transplanted from
the nursery to the main garden.
Monica
leads the children in a game that quickens wit, a
fun end to a great and productive visit.
Some
of the children look on as we discuss the next visit
with the school director.
From
the school, we drove to Nhamatanda to meet with the
Director of Agriculture. The Director is 100% behind
our efforts and advised us how to proceed to
implement the Vinho Ladies Market Garden Project. A
meeting has been set for next week with all parties
concerned. We were also given vegetable seed for the
