2016 Annual Overview – Dihokohoko

Partners: EBC Church and the Divundu Horticulture Projects (DHP)

2017-01-11

2016 was a year of many challenges in that AMTA did not seem able to assist small farmers in the Kavango Region and DiHoko suffered huge losses due to pest and disease amongst its tomatoes.

On top of that Nov16 – Feb17 was a huge rainfall period, damaging crops instead of helping it to grow better.

It was decided early in 2016, that the partnership should focus more on quality crops and fit in some special R&D to be able to reach the new goals. This included crop types, a greater shift to organic farming and a better soil management.

Huge amounts of compost were used during transplanting, to give the sandy soil a better texture and water retention capability. The compost is produced at Dihoko. There was a greater emphasis on organic pest control where chili is used for instance, to control cutworms during the very early stages after transplanting, instead of chemical pesticides. Then, manual labor was used to weed the gardens instead of spraying weed killers.

Although the gardens did fair in crop production, optimal production was not reached yet. This also meant that the essential maintenance and upkeep was barely managed. Another reason why the new decision to increase the quality with the volumes are so important. Dihoko is still holding onto the dream of becoming a reputable horticulture training center for the nearby communities. The challenge remains: if we want the teach others, we must have mastered the skills first.

The photos below show general images of the area and only maize was on the land at the time of taking them.