Kick starting the winter crop

Farmers gathering at Mziza.

Friday, met farmers at Mziza to discuss planting a starter for their winter crops. We are providing them with one packet of butternut squash seeds to plant now. We will market the crop together and use the proceeds to fund the winter crop, to be planted in April or May. Butternut squash is a valuable crop at markets catering to whites.

The farmers will plant at the same time, but each must manage his own seeds. When marketing, farmers will weigh the squash they are sending to market. This establishes their percentage of the total weight, and in turn their share of the profit. If a farmer sends 10kgs to market, and the total marketed weight is 100kg, the farmer gets 10% of the profit. This way marketing expenses are shared evenly and farmers are rewarded according to what they put into the crop.

Each farmer can earn as much as K8,000 on the first packet of seeds. And the more they produce, the better the market becomes. Reliability and consistency are essential to capture the supermarkets like Shoprite. This income will provide fertilizer and seeds for their winter crop, which will be irrigated by our pumps. The pumps might allow the farmer to plant more land than he could otherwise manage under bucket irrigation. But if he can't afford seeds for all his land, some of the pump's potential is wasted.
Blessings addressing the farmers at Mziza on Friday the 4th of February, 2011.