The First Farmer Meeting

At Thursdays meeting all of the members attended, which was great. Bassa kept me guessing and he showed up a few hours late. None of the old men from his area made it. That was kind of a drag but I guess thats the breaks. Initiative is something that has to just be there to some degree. If someone won't make the effort, they can't be forced. In the meeting first we talked about crop profitability. We also brainstormed potential markets where our farmers could have a comparative advantage and we arranged a market research tour. They decided that everyone should contribute an equal amount and that Pio and I should go. I think that Pio and I probably have the most marketability, but just the two of us going will be limiting the amount of learning that can be happening for the group. In the end the decision belonged to the group. Most of the profitable crops that we talked about like tomato and cabbage require a substantial amount of inputs, such as fertilizer and insecticide. It made me somewhat worried about the farmers that have less financial capital.
I was also nervous about all of the farmers being able to come up with the 18,000ZK for the research tour. especially because those that have more access to inputs might profit a lot more and dominate the enterprise. I was really worried about Bassa coming up with the cash to contribute for the tour but he was the first one to bring it at the next meeting. Its great to see his enthusiasm. I really hope that the project can work out as well for him as it does for the other farmers involved....