Moshi, TZ – Mwangaria Primary School’s corn more than survives the drought – 15 Mar 2021

Mwangaria Primary School’s team of Tupendane and parents worked in a smart way to protect their school breakfast’s corn from drought conditions this year. Before planting, they tilled manure into the soil along with additives to boost decomposition, improve soil structure and increase water retention. They also organized regular watering of the fields during the driest months.

This will be the first successful corn harvest since 2019 because catastrophic flooding damaged the school crops and wiped out many of the local community’s fields in recent years. Consequently, farmers planted earlier than normal this season in preparation for floods. While extreme rains did not materialize and wash away the crops, the drought needed to be managed.

Thanks to the regular watering of the school fields, the bountiful harvest will reduce the need for parents to contribute ingredients for their children’s school breakfast. Mwangaria is a small school of 250 students, so the corn from its 2.5 acres of fields will easily be enough for this year’s breakfast program.

Looking to the future, Tupendane is planning to collaborate with the school and parents to test restorative agriculture techniques. They are assessing planting trees and bushes along the fields’ perimeters to protect the soil from high wind and flood water erosion. They think this will provide wind breaks and root pathways for the water to feed the underlying water table.