Learning by Demonstration
It would seem that if we offered a technical program to a group of farmers that had very little access to new technologies, ideas, and opportunities, they would jump at the chance to be involved, right!? As we’ve learned over many years and growing cycles here in Nicaragua, this is not always the case. Traditions and culture, no matter where we live, are huge influences on our willingness to consider new ideas. Adaptation (sometimes TRUST is synonomous) continues to be one of our biggest hurdles in agriculture development in Carazo. Probably no matter where you are, or what business you’re in, actual functioning examples – demonstrations – are one of the best tools for sharing ideas and realizing uptake of those ideas. Recognizing this, La Semilla Ministries maintains various test/demonstration plots as a manner to share with our grower base. We’re blessed with some talented young agronmists who have eagerly…
Successful Harvest begins with Quality Seed
A main objective of La Semilla Ministries has been to make available quality seed to producers of all levels of production. Since we work with small producers (less than 8 acres), a constant struggle that we’ve seen is availability of clean, vigorous seed that carries genetics appropriate for the specific climate zone to be seeded. We have a good working relationship with INTA (Nicaraguan Institute of Technical Agriculture) who do most of the plant breeding in Nicaragua and maintain various lines of genetics. Using them as source of high generation seed, La Semilla works with a group of 6 producers who propagate that seed into a commercial seed that we provide to our producers. Much care is taken through this entire process to ensure quality is maintained. Beans are then dried to 13%, machine processed, hand-selected, then maintained free from humidity, insects, and rodents until the next planting season. A…