EMPOWERED MARIAMA DELIVERS FARMER FIELD SCHOOL

After learning bund building and paddy plot construction Amabest oversees a goodly turnout from Manays, Makelekos, RoGbin and RoGbaran for Hope Sakuma's farmer field school, resuming with training on transplanting and fertilizing rice seedlings.

Project coordinator Amabest explains the programme objectives and the new nature-based system to improve rice yield and reduce farmers input costs and planet-warming CO2 emissions.

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Then esteemed IVS rice specialist, Mohammed Turay from JICA makes a welcome return teaching the ladies the rice life-cycle before a break for lunch and then an afternoon of puddling the paddy awaits the Ladies!

Hope Sakuma's farmer field school continues with an afternoon of paddy puddling and the ladies make a grand job indeed of puddling this paddy, breaking up the clods of earth dug and turned by the gentlemen, working in the biochar with their feet and as you can see with Amabests encouragement thoroughly enjoying themselves learning the art of paddy puddling!

A round of applause from the Ladies for Mariama successfully delivering her very first field lesson for Hope Sakuma, empowered by Mohammed JICA and Amabest, explaining how the Ladies can profit from their labour and benefit every community before recapping on yesterdays' lessons, before the Ladies (and one or two gentlemen) begin dibbing hoes and carefully transplanting bunches of fresh green rice seedlings, they planted an dnursed themselves in precision rows with Amabest and Mohammed JICA on hand providing advice and encouragement.

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Aside from the harvesting, rice production is traditionally a male preserve but a really grand job the Ladies make of it with a whole paddy planted in a day with the rice seedlings, flushing green that the Ladies planted and nursed themselves. We think that Mariama is showing all the makings of a top-notch agriculturalist and hope she'll start college this upcoming autumn and encourage and empower more women to farm intensively but sustainably, helping unleash the potentials of more than 60% of Sanda Magbolontors' population.

This module of Hope Sakuma's Farmer Field School concludes with Amabest demonstrating seeding the rice paddy with Azolla, providing all of the rices nitrogen needs.

Meanwhile, Lucky's bakers dozen nestle under the tree and Jemima and the girls ready themselves for a trip before all waddling into the paddy, where their dung will provide phosphourous and potassium for the Azolla, and the Azolla will provide nutritous feed for the ducklings - a unqiuely benefical biosystem that boosts yield sustainably and reduces farmers input costs permenantly.

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