Mai Hove in Field of Millet скачать в хорошем качестве

Mai Hove in Field of Millet

Mrs Hove, is a celebrated farmer from Mazvihwa, a dry natural region five area of Zimbabwe's Zvishavane District, where among other things she has developed water harvesting system and a garden in a vlei near her home. But here in this video she talks about the importance of growing drought resistant small grains, the "shanga duku", especially bulrush millet (mhunga). In this video she speaks in Karanga describing how in the face of likely drought she dry planted her mhunga in lines behind a plough, and then harrowed across the field at right angles to create a water retaining tilth with few weeds. When it rained there was good infiltration and the seeds generated, and it has not been necessary for her to weed the crop even to the current stage (the millet is starting to flower). This is important as weeding places heavy demands on farmers, especially as they now have many fewer children in the past. She explains that the main thing that she has done for crop management is to thin the number of millet plants to ensure optinum density. Mrs Hove explains the key characteristic of this "rushambo" variety of millet - its ability to withstand severe hot dry spells - remarking that a less resistant variety would have dried and burned in the many weeks that had passed since the last rain, but that a recent rainstorm had brought the millet back strong and green. (The maize/corn crops of Mazvihwa were entirely burned by the mid-season drought of 2013 in this and neighboring regions of Southern Zimbabwe.) Thus taking a flowering head of millet she tells us - in a touching way - that the has faith in her rushambo. And that with this one rain storm the millet will reach maturity and she can be sure that her children will fill their stomachs and get what they need to eat! Later she points out that if you wander across the fields of Mazvihwa in a drought year like this one you will find them empty unless the farmer has planted drought resistant small grains. This interview is one of many created spontaneously in the community through which the people in Mazvihwa can debate with each other about agriculture and other crucial issues. For more information on this interview go to http://www.muonde.org