Ministry of Agriculture

Yesterday the Ministry of Agriculture toured the areas, and we are happy with the way it went. We rented a van, picked them up, and we all went out. We started in Myoloza, where the ministry people spent a fair amount of time talking to the farmers about ways they could improve and questions they had. National Chicks people also came, which was good.

When the ministry people were done there, we all (with the farmers) went up to Lamgabi. We looked around a bit more, and then sheltered inside an empty chicken house as it started to rain. So we had a big meeting with the government, our supplier, us, and the farmers all sheltering from the rain in a chicken house. The ministry set up a 3-day training course for next month, which we think will be good. The farmers also got to air all their concerns about AfricaWorks, and the ministry promised that they would try to be fair judges.

Overall, I think it was good. I think the training will be good for the farmers, as well as having an outlet where they can talk through frustrations with AfricaWorks. Frankly, AfricaWorks has had all the power in the relationship up until now, and I'm sure the farmers will be glad to have someone who they can express their complaints to. We'll know more after the training.

Have a good weekend,

-Ben