Growing vegetables is my livelihood

Salimu Tamimu (57) from Mrua Village in Kondoa District is a man on a mission. Readers willremember Salimu from Mkulima wa SEVIA no. 6 (2017) in which he gave testimony of the performance of a cabbage hybrid (Mapema F1) in a demo on his farm. Then he was still growing 3 acres of open pollinated cabbage. A lot has changed since that time.

Salimu is now growing 3 acres of hybrid cabbage. This season he chose Imani F1. Why does he grow so much cabbage? Salimu: “I like cabbage because there’s a market for it. I picked this variety because the seed is available in Kondoa Town. From what I saw in the demo last year, hybrids are not affected much by diseases. Even now, look at this crop, it is clean.”

Does he use fertilizer? Salimu: “Most of the time I use manure on my farm. I do not have much manure myself, so I buy from my neighbours. Growing vegetables is my livelihood. With good manure I can do a lot.”

Asked about irrigation, he answers: “In the past year I have dug a third borehole to make sure that I have enough water. My pump is still working well and I can irrigate the entire field.”

He is optimistic about the future: “I will add hybrids in other crops, starting with tomato. As you can see I have seedlings of hybrid tomato brought by our new extension officer, Salimu Amiri, for a demo. I want to learn from the demo.”

As a model farmer in his community, SEVIA wishes Salimu Tamimu more success in the future.