It has been very encouraging over the last couple of days seeing the Agriculture College students preparing our land for planting. Their academic timetable is on hold for about the next week as we need to be prepared for when the rains come. (This isn't looking very optimistic just at the moment so we are inclined to land preparation Plan B – no rains).
It has been a real eye opener seeing our Farming God's Way method rolled out on a big scale. To prepare the plot the students have been digging eight centimetre deep holes in rows going down the field. They did have a bit of practise at this last year when we prepared eighteen small plots in this way. Each of these plots contained sixty six holes for maize. Altogether we harvested about 400 Kg of maize.
On our larger scale plot each row contains sixty six holes, and the field contains forty rows – slightly more than twice as much land as we planted last year. We have two plots this size for maize so we are hoping to harvest about a metric tonne of maize. We will also be growing millet, green grams, (a kind of lentil), cassava and sweet potatoes. At the rate the students are working we should be able to meet our land preparation deadline. It's hard work for them but I hope that they will be encouraged by what they have managed to achieve by working together and that they will feel a real sense of achievement as they see the crops grow. The proof of the pudding for them will, I'm sure, be in the eating
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