Rope Pump at Malika Village - Video

We visited Malika Village yesterday, where farmers are getting the hang of the new pump. During our visit, they pumped the well dry irrigating their crops.It's time for a bigger well. 

Watering with buckets can be so slow that the well refills faster than farmers remove water. With the rope pump, they can drain a 500 gallon well in less than 20 minutes.

Crops are progressing well at the club's demonstration site. Farmers have already started enjoying the mustard greens and rape leaves. Check out the video below.

New windmill video

The windmill design has really come together over the last year. The reliability and output have improved. The windmill is sufficient for the demo garden, and our 2 farmers, Wallace and Custom, are able to focus on the crops rather than the exhausting work of pumping water.

We also use a windmill at Chifuchambewa where 15 farmers have divided 1 acre for windmill irrigation. The farmers have reported a number of passersby just stop to observe the windmill. Many of them think there is a gasoline engine hidden somewhere that turns the windmill and pumps the water. The farmers are always happy to explain that it's just the wind.

Here is a video of the windmill at the demo garden.

Gardens looking good

Mpombe lead farmers - 1 week after irrigation training.

Pest management @ Malika

The Malika club work on organic pest management at their training garden. Red spider mites, grasshoppers and moths destroy crops and frustrate the learning process. Farmers have learned that addressing the problems early reduce the need for chemical pesticides.

Many families cannot always wait the required number of days after applying chemicals to harvest and eat the veggies. Organic pest control allows them to harvest any crop right when it's needed, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Mpombe lead farmers

Lead farmers continue the training process, making water ways and basins.