Moshi, TZ – Strong community turn out makes fast work of land-clearing – 6 Jun 2016

Parents at three schools have finished clearing 8 acres which will be used to grow ingredients for school breakfast. The clearing was no small task. It required parents to trim acres of thorny brush, uproot trees and bushes, and clear them all from proposed farm land at the schools using only hand-powered tools.

Parents showed great support for the breakfast farming project at all three schools. They showed up in large numbers and worked with an urgency to finished the work before Ramadan fasting began. This show of support early on in the project is an encouraging sign of things to come.

“Everyone has been so surprised by the level of community participation,” explained Tupendane manager Deo Matemu, “We have never seen this level of community participation before but it shows how much parents [value] the opportunity to provide breakfast for their children. It is a very encouraging sign that they are getting involved early on because it means they will feel ownership for this project as it continues.”

Now that land-clearing has been completed a tractor will be used to turn the soil and raise irrigation canals. Wells will also be dug for irrigation. Once the land is prepared and irrigation water is ready, the schools will be ready to plant corn and ground-nuts. They are pushing to get seeds in the ground before the end of July so they can harvest before the very hot season begins in December.