update june 2024

The growing season is coming to an end and with that, less activities on the farm. The coming 3 months are hot and dry, so nothing is planted and the ground is covered to hold moisture. Villagers from the TWA village (picture above) have worked on FRED'S FARM to supply mulching materials, now they look for work elsewhere during the dry season.
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Community initiatives
One of the biggest challenges in project work is follow-up. Many of our initiatives focus on the community succeeding with what FRED'S FARM teaches and supports. The farmers can be motivated, but don't succeed for different reasons. Both the dairy goats and the moringa tree have been a challenge. After some years trying different methods to follow up, in February this year we landed on the following; one employee from FRED'S FARM is in charge of each initiative. These employees were selected from former interns from the school program.
​        After 4 months we see that this approach seems to ensure we have  better follow-up.  Each person has their individual record book. Jacques invites them to a weekly meeting to go through the records and discuss issues together. We now see a marked improvement in the moringa planted in the TWA village and at other farmers. In addition, we now  have a much better overview over the crossbreeding program between pure breed dairy goats & local goats. 
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So, we now think we've found a better way forward!

​Top left: Local doe with 2 crossbreed kids, 1 male & 1 female
Middle right: Local farmer, Vincent, looks after one of the pure breed bucks from FF, & provides free "servicing" for local does.
Middle left: the goat record book.
Bottom left and right: thriving moringa saplings at the Twa village.

The Farm

​There is an improvement in both coffee and macadamia harvest. This is essential as in the future, this is where cash for the project is going to be generated.
Here too we have changed how we follow-up the daily work. One permanent member of staff has responsibility for macadamia, one for young coffee and one for established coffee trees. So, similar to the community initiatives.    

It's heartwarming to see how these young people Jacques has selected take on this responsibility. It is both a learning opportunity for them, and a great help for FRED'S FARM. 
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Coffee and Macadamia
​The coffee harvest finishes this week, and the harvest is four times 2023 harvest:) The macadamia harvest is also increasing. For the coffee, the main factor for improvement is better management. For the macadamia, management is better and in addition more trees are producing nuts. It takes approximately 7 years for the trees to start producing nuts, and can take 15 years to reach full production. So macadamia is a long term investment. 
For general interest, on FRED'S FARM coffee harvesting takes place once a year over a 9 week period. Ripe coffee cherries are picked once a week, and carried immediately to the nearest coffee washing station. The coffee cherries must be washed within 8 hours of harvesting, so washing stations function throughout the night. Macadamia produces nuts throughout the year, so Joseline collects and records on a weekly basis. Mature nuts fall to the ground and must be collected as soon as possible as rodents damage those which are left on the ground. So "nut hunting" is an essential part of Joseline's job. 

Picture left - Weighing the coffee cherries at the farm 
Picture right - Picking coffee cherries

Bananas
The banana trees planted as shade trees for coffee are maturing and producing fruit, both sweet and cooking bananas. Most of the harvest is used as food for our staff, but surplus is now sold at the local market. 

Kids at school
The 10 TWA school children we have supported this year will soon begin their summer holidays. The TWA villagers have told us that after the holidays, they plan to send 13 children to school. Very good news! When we started the project no kids from the TWA village attended school.

​Improved child health
Since February, Brice, Agnes and Fabrice, have come daily to FRED'S FARM to receive goat's milk. Their nutritional status has improved markedly! The health volunteers use the recognised simple measuring tool, MUAC (mid upper arm circumference). Brice and Agnes have improved so much they don't need to come any more, but Fabrice is still borderline malnourished and will continue to come daily. Their mother has thanked "FRED'S FARM for caring for her children who were about to die and now come back to life". 
This mother has also a baby who is breast fed, and she received fresh moringa leaves to improve breast milk production. Agnes was treated for an extreme case of jiggers in February, and has remained "jiggerfree". 
The health volunteers and village leader will now identify new children who will be invited to receive milk. The threshold for a mother to bring her children can be high as it is an acknowledgment that she is not able to provide for her children. But in general, all who have been invited have, with gentle encouragement from our farm foreman Providence, brought their children.   

​Again thank you for all support.
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Without it we could not continue to help the people in the area we are working.