Thursday, February 16, 2012

Rains, rains, come and stay...

We are in the midst of the rainy season (December-April), here in Malawi. For us in the irrigation business this means a lot of preparation and shop work. We are using this time to refine some old designs and get our pumps ready for March to April installations.

The sooner the better, I should say, because for farmers in Lilongwe district the rains have been a bit insufficient; maize yields will be low, preserved vegetables will not last. We have already started advising farmers to shore up their food supplies by planting tubers like sweet potato, potato, and cassava, in the dambo areas. Farmers have also been provided with okra, cow pea, pigeon pea, and butter bean seeds from the AWP seed collection.