The image above is of Mr and Mrs Siatubi, first season CF adopters from Magalela village in Zimba District, Southern Province.
When questioned about their CF experience they had this to say; ‘We normally cultivate 6ha of maize under conventional practice but this time around, after attending the three trainings that CFU offer, we decided to try out 1.5ha of maize under CF.’ ‘So far the CF crop is doing very well despite the long dry spell experienced in January 2018 and we anticipate that the yield we will get from the CF plot will be double that of the ploughed fields.’
They went on to say that ‘normally, we get 4 ox-carts (56 × 50Kg bags, 2.8t/ha) from a hectare, now in this ripped field, we think we will harvest 4 more ox-carts per hectare (5.6t/ha),’ double their previous yields.
They also said that their CF field looks like ‘a proper field’ with less run-off and gullies caused by erosion as compared to the previous years when the plot was under conventional tillage.
The CF ripped field has a good crop stand compared to the conventional field as seen in the second image below.
This couple had attended trainings in previous years, but did not adopt CF/CA. It was only after attending a field day last season, that they decided to try CF/CA. Mr and Mrs Siatubi, used ADP ripping to prepare the plot with their own oxen. They did not use herbicides, but are hoping to include it for their budget next year.
