Apples

22nd February 2016:

About 8 years ago now I brought apple rootstock and scion from Irish Seedsavers, Scariff, County Clare to Malawi together with their European Passports.
Some died of drought, some were attacked by termites and some were just neglected by people who didn't actually believe, or were convinced by experts of all shapes, sizes and nationalities, THAT APPLES DO NOT GROW IN MALAWI!! 
We have three out of 10 left. and the good news is that this tree had had an income of 7000 Malawi Kwacha this year, which is about 30% of the monthly minimum wage in Malawi, (and there are 5 apples still remaining)
Since January 1st we have employed Adamson who knows his apples to head up a new apple project with the farm Boss Laston. Since I arrived I notice a new respect for the apple trees like more watering, more fettilizer and so on.n
I have learned that May is the month for propagation of rootstock and by the end of the year we hope to have maybe 1000 new apple seedlings, by buying-in some rootstock.
This year we as a tiny organisation, have got Government Certification for our production facility, produced over 21,000 improves seedlings of 29 varieties and have got even more efficient at what we do.
You might ask who the WE are. Well the team leader is a serious man, who lives on the farm with his wife and two boys(who is also an employee), with little Secondary School Education) but a great intellect and a passion for doing things right. Adamson has come to us from a distance of about 50 km, and his wife (who is also an employee) and their two boys came to live on the farm two weeks ago. The rest of the team help out when needed.
OH almost all apples, eaten in Malawi now come from Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. As I often say sad but true, but maybe it should be stupid but true in this case.
All our girls in the Centre for Learning will get a chance to work on the farm during the summer, to help with the academic subject Agriculture, but also as a life-skill.