Nicaragua Monthly Report for January 2016

Blanca Zelaya and Salvador Cerrato : 90% of seed germinatand and it has been
12 and 15 days (varies by crop) since being transplanted. Crops planted include
broccoli, celery, yerba buena and scallion. She has had no problems with pests
and diseases and both cultivation and the greenhouse are in good condition.
Recommendations:
• Follow up communities to check if things are working all right.
• That Namlo considers that exchanges of experience between producers and
communities .
• To encourage producers who are working well , to create workbuild this
initiative in other producers.
• That Namlo consider creating a nursery of trees as a measure to conserve soil .
• That Namlo consider providing plastic to place them on the greenhouses in San
Juan del Río Coco , to prevent excessive rains that harms crops.
Damasio Machado Rizo : 85 % of seed germinated and it has been 34 days
since being sown and planted. Crops include carrot and beets in large quantity
and well developed. He has had no problems with the attack of pests and
diseases and both cultivation and the greenhouse are in good condition.
Antonio Pineda Lazo : 90 % of seed germinated and it has been 35 days since
being sown and planted. Crops include carrot, beet, onion and radish. All are
developing well and he has had no problems with the attack by pests or
diseases. Crop and greenhouse are both in good condition.
A workshop with producers preparing biofertilizer to improve the structure of
plants , providing nutrients for good development was also performed.
Community La Almaciguera (San Nicolas) Mario Machado Rizo : 90 % of seed germinated and it has been 36 days since
planting. Crops include onions, beets, carrots and lettuce , all proceeding well
and in substantial quantity. She has had no problems with attack by pests or
diseases , and both cultivation and the greenhouse are in good condition.
Eligio Machado Torres: 90% of seed germinated and it has been 35 days since
being planted. Crops include carrots, onions, beets and lettuce. All developed
well and in large quantities. He has had no problems with the attack of pests or
diseases and both crops and the greenhouse are in very good condition.
Pedro Machado Rizo : 90 % of seed germinated and it has been 35 days since
being sown and planted. Crops include carrots, beets , onion and radish. The
radish is ready to harvest. He has not had problems with pest or disease attack
and both cultivation and the greenhouse are in very good condition.
Doña Deysi Blandon is now beginning to harvest and all product is of good size,
well-developed and in abundant quantities after only two months. The crop still
has about 4 weeks before it reaches its full size. So far she has not had problems
with the attack by pests or diseases and both cultivation and the greenhouse are
in very good condition.
Don Fernando Benavides is now beginning to harvest his crop. It is of good
size and quantity. Similarly his crop is only two months after being sown, and has
had some problems with worms eating the leaves (but not the fruit) of the plants
so it is recommended to apply “murupo” at night to control it. The greenhouse is
in good condition.
Community of Potrerillo (San Nicolas) Santos Philemon Machado : 95 % of his seed germinated and it has been 36
days since planting. Crops planted include onion, tomato, beets , carrots and
radish. These farmers tend to plant crops radish because it is faster and harvest
it in less time. He has not had problems with pests or diseases attacks. Both
greenhouse and plants are in good condition.
Don Bayardo Navarro : Bayardo harvested all plants that were in the
greenhouse and is turning the soil to put a tomato seedbed within it. The
greenhouse is in very good condition.
Don Ricardo Navarro : Ricardo is starting to harvest the entire product after only
two months. The fruits have developed well and he is already reaping the
benefits of his plant. However, the plants still have some time before the reach
their full potential so he expects it to be a sizeable harvest. He has not had any
problems with the attack by pests or diseases and both cultivation and the
greenhouse are in good shape.
Doña Deylin Ruiz :
Deylin already harvested an entire crop of carrots, beets and bell pepper. The
peppers are starting to produce fruit again, and despite being the second crop it
is still a well developed fruit. She also harvested onion, of which the majority was
sold in the local market and the remainder was kept for family consumption. She
did not have any problems with the attack by pests or diseases, and both culture
and plants are in good condition.
Doña Nimiam Melgara : The same job for soil improvement was performed at
Nimia’s , since she had stopped working the greenhouse while one of her family
members was ill. The soil was very poor in organic matter and was lacking a
fertile layer, so we incorporated darker soil to improve the nutrient content and
wait for the soil to regenerate itself. The greenhouse is in good condition.
Comunidad La Labranza (Miraflor). Doña Deyanira Alanis : Deyanira harvested all of the crop from one of her beds
and is letting it rejuvenate before planting a new crop. Her bell pepper crop
bloomed but harvest was limited due to some problems with insects , the crops
harvested were consumed by the family. Lettuce has been planted in one of the
beds and is 30 days old. In another bed, cucumber is already beginning to
bloom. She has had no problems with the attack of pests or diseases with lettuce
and cucumber. Both the greenhouse and the plants are in very good condition.
Mrs. Patricia Castillo: Patricia has harvested all her crops and has new crops in
the greenhouse. Carrots and Lettuce already have 22 days after being sown and
Onion and Cilantro with 15 days. She said that since he started using the
greenhouse she has had no problems with the attack of pests and diseases
because every five days she applies foliar preventively and both the greenhouse
and the plants show very good condition.
Doña Elsa Alvarez
Our goal at Elsa’s on this trip was to repair portions of Elsa’s greenhouse that
were damaged. More fertile soil was applied to improve conditions inside the
greenhouse. The previous soil lacked proper nutrients and needed fertile land to
produce again and allow for better plant development.
A small meeting with some of the producers was also held to raise awareness on
working organically. In light of some of the problems that producers have
experience we explained that it is a slow process that requires patience and work
and that they should not be discouraged.
Comunidad Los Pinares (Telpaneca)
Don Jose Polanco: Having performed the double digging Biointensive method to
improve the soil, we added more fertile soil on two of the beds while the other is
being used for growing carrots. The other two beds are allowed to stand for one
month in order for the soil and fertilizer to better integrate in order to produce a
better growing environment. The greenhouse is in good condition.
Don José Agenor Gonzales : José Agenor finished harvesting and removed all
the remnant plants in order to let the soil stand before replanting other crops. He
has had no problems with pests and diseases and both crop and greenhouse
have very good conditions.
Don Flavio Cardoza : Don Flavio has ended finsihed harvesting his crop. All of
the tomato planted was attacked by a plague called chamusco that could not be
controlled with any insecticide. The decision was made to remove the entire crop
to let the soil stand and replace them with new crops. The greenhouse is in very
good conditions.
Don Reinaldo Guitierrez
After being moved to another site which has more favorable conditons Reinaldo
planted tomato crop which are now 35 days old. Both the crop and the
greenhouse are in good condition.
Monthly Report for January, 2016 This month visits to 6 different communities: San Juan de Rio Coco ( Barrio
Nuevo Community),Telpaneca ( Community: Los Pinares ) , Miraflor (
Community: La Labranza) , Estelí ( Community: Las Calabazas), San Nicolas (
Community: Potrerillo and Almaciguera ) were made to verify the conditions of
both crops and greenhouses. Workshops on two types of organic fertilizer were
also held and soil remediation was conducted with three partners who were
having difficulties with soil conditions within their greenhouses.
Community of Barrio Nuevo (San Juan de Rio Coco) Don Luis Herrera: The seedbed that was sown for tomato seedlings was
attacked and destroyed completely by a plague called chamusco. The seed used
was purchased (by the user not Namlo staff) from an unreliable source and was
not of good quality. As a result, the plants did not adapt well to the climate. Luis
is going to replace the area with carrots, onions and beets, hoping to get better
results with these seeds.
Gerardo Izaguirre: The seed culture is already well developed; the cabbage is
30 days old. He is harvesting bell peppers from the second cycle already (bell
peppers can have as many as 6 separate harvests. He has had no problems
with the pests and diseases by constantly being applying organic foliar that
prevent pest attack. Both the greenhouse and the plants show very good
condition.
Roger Danilo Izaguirre : The seed that had germinated was attacked by ants
and destroyed 100% of it. It is recommended to apply chile garlic to disinfect the
ground, and to control the problem, first to remove the ants before replanting.
The greenhouse is in good condition.