New exciting updates!

It's been a year since the last blog post and we have some exciting project updates to share with you. Fortunately, Nkope Village didn't experience the devastation that many other areas endured after Cyclone Idai and our project has seen increased progress over the past year.

During the past dry season of 2019, there have been significant advancements to our irrigation scheme on the ground. We now have 2 large water tanks on top of the tower and both solar panels and solar pumps installed to facilitate efficient drip irrigation. The image below shows the water tanks on top of the water tower and the installation of solar panels.

Additionally, there is now a new permaculture manager named Jacob that will be working alongside Victor, the current agriculture manager. Jacob is an experienced permaculture practitioner and will be supporting Victor to ensure that progress is made. The project is growing and we are excited that Jacob will be part of the team! They have made advancements in permaculture composting and have started a small nursery of 70 papaya seedlings to see if they would be viable to grow on the hectares of land. The images below show Jacob (left), Victor (middle), and the papaya seedlings (right).

We are extremely excited about the progress and changes that have been made in the past year and hope to continue the progress during our team's visit to Nkope Village in March. Next spring, Terry Zittel, Bill Zittel, and Kyle Zittel will be traveling to the project site to make important project assessments and consultations to develop new strategies for Harvest Malawi on the ground and back home. We will be sure to provide another update after their trip!

None of these advancements would be possible without the support from our donors, and we wanted to say Zikomo kwambiri ('thank you very much' in Chichewa)!