Project News

New 42 target farmers who are participating in the Project's Comparative Cropping of this season in Buluto have started using a Push Weeder in their fields. In general, most of them were delighted to use the tool in their fields and thanked the Project for introducing them the tool which can help ease their farming work in controlling the weed. The Project has so far introduced the Push Weeder to 12 target farmers out of 42 in Buluto.

Mr. Jacinto Sebastião Viegas (50), a farmer from Lifau Village said that after two weeks of transplanting, there are almost no weeds in his paddy field because he is properly controlling water as suggested by the Project Monitoring Staff. Despite that, he still prefers to use the Push Weeder in his plot of Comparative Cropping as he noticed that the soil crushed by the tool helped acceleration of the growth of paddy. In the past, Mr. Jacinto spent long hours removing weed from his paddy field, but after having observed the effectiveness of the Push Weeder, he was convinced that it can help him spend fewer hours removing weed from his field in the future.

Mr. Nariyoshi Odashima, Japanese Expert on Cultivation Techniques praised farmers who properly followed instructions from the Project and implemented them in their paddy fields. According to him, changing farmers' old practices is not easy, but as farmers observe the benefit of the improved cultivation techniques, they will start implementing them in the future.

The Project expects that farmers who already used the Push Weeder in their paddy fields will be able to independently observe the field for the need of applying the Push Weeder without further instructions from the Project Monitoring staff.

A farmer from Lifau using the Push Weeder in his paddy field.

Farmer looked satisfied to see his field after the use of the Push Weeder.

Area of the Comparative Cropping introduced by the Project in Laleia, Municipality of Manatuto (1).

Photo (Right): Area of the Comparative Cropping introduced by the Project in Laleia, Municapality of Manatuto (2).