Ngara, TZ – Mukirehe Primary School students start harvesting – 15 Feb 2021

Mukirehe Primary School students are harvesting corn, and it looks like it will be a successful third farming season! The school planted corn in late 2020 due to rain delays, but the yields still look good.

At the start of 2020, Mukirehe welcomed a new headteacher. Even though he was unfamiliar with the school’s Grow-own-Breakfast program, he ensured that the students continued to follow SODAT’s mentorship. As a result, the school hardly missed a beat in the preparation, planting and maintenance of the school’s farm. SODAT and the headteacher worked well together and executed activities according to the plan. The students planted, fertilized, and weeded on time while the cooks applied necessary sprays.

Last year, SODAT’s manager David emphasized the importance of scheduling the farming for productivity. As a result, the students have planted the beans and harvested the corn slightly ahead of schedule. This is very good because the corn shielded the delicate emerging bean seedlings from the harsh sun and heavy rain while they established their root systems. Now that the students are harvesting the corn, the beans are establishing themselves and covering the ground to fix nitrogen in the top soil and protect it from water and wind erosion.

Mukirehe historically has the highest per-acre harvest quantities out of the three schools that SODAT mentors. This is important because they have the least amount of farm land. SODAT and the three primary schools are continuously looking for better ways to regenerate the soil and increase breakfast ingredient quantities.

Recently, the Mukirehe School community raised funds to access a piped water supply. The water will initially be used for drinking, cooking, sanitation and hygiene, but the school plans to investigate if the water can also be priced lower for agricultural use so that they can water vegetable gardens!