Project News

In the first cropping of this year, the Project continues to expand its activity on Comparative Cropping in Maliana I by selecting another new 42 target farmers. Through the expansion of this activity, the Project will not only increase farmers' knowledge on cultivations techniques but also educate them to properly manage and look after their paddy fields particularly in water control and weeding.

It was observed that the new target farmers who joined the activity were very interested in the effectiveness of the Line Marker after having experienced the tool by themselves. According to them, this equipment can work much faster to conduct the line transplanting than using the string.

Ms. Ermelinda Baros (64), a new farmer from Holsa village was excited to use the Line Marker for the first time to mark her paddy field. She even tested to see the effectiveness of the tool by assigning two labours each into her two separate plots of the Comparative Cropping, and the result proved that the labour in the plot of line transplanting finished up his work much quicker than the one in the plot of random transplanting. After the test, she immediately noticed that if she applies the line transplanting in her paddy field, she can hire less labour to do the work.

Mr. Manuel Pereira (40), a neighbouring farmer voluntarily asked the Project if he could join the Comparative Cropping after observing himself the effectiveness of using the Line Marker for the line transplanting. He started to be convinced that if he uses the equipment in his paddy field, he will be able to spend less money for hiring the labour and get the job done quickly.

Mr. Nariyoshi Odashima, Japanese Expert on Rice Cultivation Techniques said that the Project has so far implemented its activity towards 10 out of 42 new target farmers in this first season and throughout the implementation of the Comparative Cropping, the Project will continuously provide the technical assistance in following measures to be taken by the farmers particularly in water control and weeding. At the same time, he said that the Project will continue to work with the former target farmers to ensure that they are consistently applying the techniques in their paddy fields and sharing their experiences they learned from the Project with other farmers in the area.

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Project Monitoring Staff teaching a farmer on using the Line Marker.

A farmer from Holsa village was confident to use the Line Marker by herself after being taught by the Project Monitoring Staff.

Farmers conducted the line transplanting after their paddy fields were marked.

Farmers conducted the line transplanting while other neigboring farmers were watching them.

Current land preparation in Maliana I (1).

Current land preparation in Maliana I (2).