Norma's Letter from Jos: 17 March 2011

Note: Norma runs Zamani farms neqr Jos and writes weekly...

Vegetable orders for Thursday 24 March

Thursday, March 17, 2011 6:10 AM

From: Norma

Hello customers,

First of all, we want to extend our condolences and best wishes to all of our Japanese friends and customers. Like everyone else in the world, we are shocked and horrified at what is happening in Japan, and we hope that all of our customers' families and loved ones are safe. We wish them strength and fortitude to deal with the horrific problems that the people of Japan are now facing. Please accept our sincere sympathy.

We have had a relatively quiet week at the farm, and are busy planting lots of new stuff for you. However, the general security situation in the rural areas around Jos remains unsettled, and this does have an effect on our operations. For instance, we took one of our old water pumps to Barkin Ladi for repairs last week. The mechanic at the workshop took the pump apart in order to repair it. Then there was an attack on Gai village, near Kura Falls, where the mechanic's brother was killed, and he has gone to the village to bury his relation. So up to now our pump has not been repaired.

The situation is also impacting the supply of some vegetables in the local market. Normally this should be the main season for potatoes, and we had anticipated that the price should be coming down. But now we are hearing that the supply of potatoes is becoming very difficult, due to a combination of factors. First of all, a potato moth has infested the crop and has done a lot of damage. Also, many farmers did not grow any potatoes at all this year because they were afraid to go to their farms for fear of attack. The main potato growing areas are in Jos South and Barkin Ladi local governments, which are main populated by Birom, and Mangu and Bokkos, to the south. Most of the Birom farmers did not plant potatoes this season, so a large area that usually produces potatoes has been left fallow, and there is already a shortage of good quality ones. There will undoubtedly be shortages of other vegetables in the local markets as well, since the land usually devoted to irrigated crops has been drastically reduced this dry season.

Our crops on the farm have been doing well despite the generally hot weather we have been experiencing…