SEVIA’s last “dance” at Meru Fair
SEVIA’s last “dance” at Meru Fair
Four team members: Theophilo Nyigaga (aka Mwalimu), Ikunda Marandu, soon-to-depart Mary Maganga and Trainer Emmanuel Itonye, found themselves in the centre of the action.
The quartet, ready to receive farmers
The topics covered included seed selection, raising of seedlings, fertilizer application, and pest and disease management.
Madam Mary explaining seedling raising and allied nursery media
The team was also on hand to provide farmers with the technical eternal calendar, crop guides and the popular SEVIA technical newsletter (Mkulima wa SEVIA). These are materials developed by SEVIA which farmers continue to find useful in their production and marketing processes.
Emmanuel providing farmers with SEVIA’s learning materials
Did we mention that the main theme for SEVIA was control of Tuta absoluta? Maybe not. Apparently this year was unique in that SEVIA had this equally unique theme for the fair. Tuta Absoluta is one of the biggest challenges especially in tomato production in Tanzania and beyond. Aided by a relevant poster from one of our partners and a team that had the relevant recommendations at its fingertips, farmers left the SEVIA stand fully satisfied that their problems would now become a thing of the past.
SEVIA’s contribution to the farmers in Meru did not go unnoticed. SEVIA was deservedly awarded a certificate of appreciation by the authorities for serving farmers in Meru District and beyond.
By the time the Meru Fair closed its gates in the dusk of Saturday the 30th of November 2019, a staggering 528 farmers had been reached by SEVIA in 3 days. Looking back at this event, one cannot help but think that it was a fitting finale to a project whose work was epitomized by intensive extension. Perhaps such events can still be witnessed again in the future, this time at the SEVIA Centre as the project continues with its training program, but it can never be the same. Yet the streamlined Team SEVIA can still wave a magic wand so that it can once again come back to the big “dance” in Meru next year and in other years to come.
