Field Day

Some Fridays ago (May 15th) we had a field day for farmers in the Mansa area at the ZARI research station. The theme was "Challenges of Change" the participants learned about the projects we have going on here regarding cassava, sweet potatoes, finger millet and sorghum. I was able to present some of our findings regarding the weed research that we have begun here. It was a really good time of exchange and the farmers had lots of great questions. Many farmers were interested in using herbicides because labor is expensive (in some cases about twice as expensive as the chemical options). We still have to take the trials to yield though.

John was a big help, since the field day was a bit disorganized (no one has their own transport so the research station vehicles were driving around picking people up) groups had started the tour before other arrived. Thus there was a lag time when no one was at "my station" and then at the end they were coming rapid-fire. So, John would start the group off by giving an introduction and then he would pass that group on to me for the technical part/questions & answer time and then he would start the next group. It worked out well. John was also able to be a photographer for me too.

I was really excited about being a part of the field day and interacting with the local farmers. I wasn't sure if this was actually going to happen and was happy that it all came together. I think it makes the work I am doing here much more worthwhile.