ESTABLISHING A DEMO PLOT IN EAST KOBWAYE SUB-LOCATION

On the 18^th April 2012, in the company of the DAO, Kobama division, Mr. John Omotto, we established a demo plot at a farmer’s plot, Mr. John Nyabuto, in Kachuth village, East Kobwaye Sub-location, Kobama Division. In attendance we had 12 members (9 M & 4 F) from different groups in the area. The seeds and the fertilizer were provided by Kobama Division Ministry of Agriculture with ALIN giving the necessary information on the procedures to be followed.

On the first demo plots (17 meters x 5 meters) the crops were planted with DAP 18:46:0 fertilizers for the best result.

Plot Number/ Name	Species / Crop grown
1.	Simlaw Curl J (Tomato)
2.	SC Punda Mlia 53 (Maize(200g)
3.	SC Duma 43 (Maize(200g)
4.	SC Simba 61 (Maize(200g)
5.	KN 500 43 A (Maize(200g)
6.	DK 8031 (Maize(200g)
7.	Gadam Sorghum (KARI)
8.	Gopari Sorghum (Indigenous breed)

We are to finish the planting of various breeds of beans and groundnuts on 25^th April 2012 on the remaining plots using different techniques like pure stand, mixed cropping and the rest.

Immediate Feedbacks

·         The farmers who were present during the activity said that the idea of planting using lines/strings, certified seed and fertilizer was such a nice idea and they too are going to wait for the outcome of this and implement it on their farm but one of their greatest fears was the price of the fertilizer. They say it’s too expensive for a common man to afford and if they can get it at subsidized rates, then at least each farmer can achieve the best.

Mr. Okoth Nyabuto whose farm we are using for the demo has 2500 stems of the Simlaw Curl J tomato but he is saying that he cannot still get Kshs. 40,000 from it at the end. When we asked him for reason he said “tomato production is all about medicine, you have to spray it all the time until harvesting and that one I can’t afford”, we informed him that a good farmer needs to plan in advance before going to the ground, because if he actually did, then he would be expecting thrice what he is current dreaming of. The DAO gave him Mil-rush pest control for him to spray on the tomatoes. This idea has made us take his tomato farm too into our demo plan to make the rest learn from it and we are looking forward to assist him get some of those required chemicals in time.

Contact person: John Nyabuto 0713 355 421.