Harvesting Maize

Up to now we avoided growing maize because everyone here in Malawi is an expert on the subject, so much so that there will be s serious shortage this year even allowing for the fact that all the stored maize is used up!! For the last seven years they (Government, NGO's and experts) have been on a mission of subsidised artificial fertiliser, GM seed and noxious chemical pesticides which now seems to have crashed like a house of cards.
The seed we used on this two acres is open pollinated seed from our friends in Zambia and we have grown it using conservation tillage, There is minimum tillage and compost .
We have grown trees and plants to fix nitrogen and draw up other nutrients.
We will use the same basing for the next three years rotating our crops of Maize, Beans, Cowpea, soya, sunflower and ground nuts. and we will monitor yields.
The green matter on the ground is a mixture of frees and plants which provide cover for micro-organisms and prevent water loss. Of course the maize stalks are used as mulch as well and will also add nutrients when the micro-organisms get to work on them!!

Other work today Grafting Mango

Thinning Bananas