3.5 Acres of Grain

Progress is being made at our training sites in Lilongwe. These farmers have planted 3.5 acres of maize. which will yield approximately 8,000 lbs of grain. This will meet the food requirement of their families long enough to fend off hunger during the leanest months later this year.

 Two weeks ago in the same garden:

Not far away, another irrigation club is preparing to construct a water tank that will help them irrigate more land with less time and effort. The tank will hold over 20,000 liters, or 5,400 gallons.

Early Harvesting for Irrigation Farmers

The early planting method is paying off. We harvested approximately 1,500 lbs of grain in late March through early April, just from our demonstration garden. Other farmers who used the method are busy harvesting. For them, the harvesting season will stretch from March through June. Then the first irrigated crops after the rains will be ready in June or July. As we close the gaps in food production, year-round harvesting is becoming a reality.

These techniques are only available to irrigation farmers. Others rely exclusively on rainfall to water their crops, which is a vulnerable method of farming. That's why creating inexpensive irrigation pumps, and training farmers to use them, is so important. There really needs to be nonstop harvesting to not just produce sufficient amounts of food, but also to mitigate any emergencies that affect yields.

Planting!

In partnership with the Ngwangwa Agriculture Extension office, AWP is training 1,000 farmers how to grow enough food throughout the year. The farmers are now planting maize to put their skills to use.

We teach them how to layout their gardens using string to get a straight and even grid. This ensures that each plant has the right amount of space to grow. They plant using sticks to measure the distance between seeds and the depth. They apply manure and fertilizer before planting to give their crops the best start possible.