Timothy (2015)
Timothy
Timothy is NOTDEC Uganda's Farm Manager — and he runs a brilliant banana plantation.
He visited Kagando Farm early in 2015 because it was clear that NOTDEC Uganda had a great deal to learn from Johnny Rowland, then running Kagando Farm. During that visit, it also became clear that Timothy's banana plantation was much the better of the two, helped by rather better banana-growing conditions at Kabirizi. There, NOTDEC Uganda has no river for irrigation, so Timothy recycles water from the laundry. It's so successful that he plans to plant more bananas — which are used in matoke dishes, a local diet staple. When production exceeds the orphanage's needs, the surplus will be sold at the local market.
Before NOTDEC Uganda, Timothy did an agricultural course and then worked on another farm. He is a quick learner. Just days after our meeting with Johnny Rowland, he was following Johnny's advice about his maize.
In Uganda, maize isn't harvested soft and moist for corn-on-the-cob. It's left to dry out in the sun until rock hard, then ground into flour (for porridge etc.) But the resulting tinder-dry maize litter is impossible to plough in, even having two goes!
Johnny advised chopping up the litter using the tractor's mowing attachment (bought to mow the football pitch) on its highest setting, so making it easier to plough in. Timothy tried exactly that - and it worked! Johnny also said that, half the time, he wouldn't then need to plough, and could just sew direct into the ground beneath the chopped litter. That would save time and fuel, and avoid bringing more weed seeds to the surface.
Timothy was all ears!
He may not be as talkative as most; but given good direction, he can do the bizz!