A hot field day!

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This year we have been feeling the full effects of a very strong El Niño. The pacific ocean has warmed up and the rains stopped a few months earlier. Temperatures have exceeded 35 degrees Celsius here, where it is normally 28 -30 degrees. Despite the quick onset of drought caused by El Niño, producer Jose Francisco wanted to plant corn, under irrigation. The San Gabriel river runs through his property and it flows all year long. While the levels are low because of the drought, it still has water! He is going to plant a new variety of corn we are offering in our agricultural program. We are very excited for this corn! We wanted to plant some corn ourselves in last planting cycle, but because of the drought we decided on beans. 

Great management by Darwin

This will be Darwin's first trial with corn, but he had the support of the agronomist team in Jinotepe to fill him in on the knowledge he needs to advise Jose Francisco. An acre of corn was planted near the river, in the middle of the dry season! Farmer Jose Francisco used a drip irrigation system to water the corn, and ran a pump from the river for 30 minutes a day. The planting was a great success despite the high temperatures! We decided to host a field day for other producers in our program to come and see the corn, and promote the commercial production of corn. Many farmers here only see corn as a crop to provide sustenance, meaning they only produce what their family can eat, and sell a few ears to their neighbors to make tortillas or tamales. 

We had a great time during our field day, the other producers in our program enjoyed talking about their trade with one another, and they invited their sons to the event also. We love to encourage future generations of farmer! Darwin spent some time giving them technical aspects of the corn variety and how to plant this crop. When it was time to see the field, the farmers all ran into the corn like excited kids! We spent time praying for God's blessing on Jose Francisco's harvest and shared a good snack. 

Darwin speaking with producer David


Enjoying the weather and the company

Jose Francisco gave us a bag of corn to take home, and since Jari's mom was visiting us, she made 'yol tamales' a sweet tamale we enjoyed with coffee! They we delicious! We dropped off a good two dozen to Jose Fransico to enjoy as well. Sharing the love and joy our combined efforts can bring, God is good! 

Location: San Rafael Del Norte, Nicaragua

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