But you know, you solve one challenge only to find another. Next project is to provide ox carts to move the extra crop to markets. Think how useful a trailer is on a farm. This is how happy the farmers are:
This was a farmers’ group we visited today in Kibale. They grow maize, ground nuts and rice mainly.
Good story; we arrived and were very pleasantly greeted, as was befitting the end of 2 hours of severe discomfort on the back of the motorbike over very rough tracks, before being told of their terrible maize harvest due to drought. I’ve been thinking “mulch” for some time, as this take of woe is all too common, and wondering what could be utilised that’s cheap or free and readily available. And there it was; rice hay,.acres and acres of it, light, easily shifted from rice paddy to maize paddock by ox (or child!) dragging a big bale. The group leader, Sam said they’d tried it with their home use tomatoes but they hadn’t considered it with maize because it’s such large scale, around 20 acres among 20 farmers, an acre each. I explained this would also help defeat the crippling weed known as Striga which attacks the maize roots, since the mulch would cover the root zone. That was the clincher! And I carried a sack of rice hay home to set up a wee trial here. THIS it’s why I’m loving this adventure. So much of “me” is coalescing.
BTW, the weather here is really good. Like summer on Nelson, maybe though we often have rain late afternoons something to do with being pretty much on the equator. Which is why we got soaked again on the journey home.
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