{"id":1989,"date":"2019-04-15T18:52:23","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T18:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2019-04-15T18:52:23","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T18:52:23","slug":"missio-usa-representatives-happy-with-chipunga-farm-limited-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/missio-usa-representatives-happy-with-chipunga-farm-limited-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Missio USA Representatives Happy with Progress at Chipunga Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stephano Nkhata<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Chief Lending Officer for Missio Invest Africa Mr. Keith Polo and the Regional Coordinator Fr.\u00a0 Celestino Bundi Mutea recently visited Chipunga Farm Limited to check on the progress being made at the farm especially on the two main crops, coffee and macadamia.<\/p>\n

The Diocese of Karonga acquired the farm with a loan obtained from Missio USA to engage into serious agricultural production as a drive towards self-sustainability. Currently most activities of the Diocese are funded by partners.<\/p>\n

Activities on the farm began immediately after the farm was handed over to the Diocese on 4th<\/sup> January, 2018. The Diocese has planned to invest in coffee and macadamia nuts production. The farm covers an area of 286.876 hectares and the Diocese intends to have 150 hectares of coffee and 100 hectares of macadamia nuts.<\/p>\n

During the visit to Chipunga Farm, Polo and Fr. Bundi were accompanied by Father John Chitsulo of Blantyre Archdiocese and Mr Duncan Magwira from the Episcopal conference of Malawi who is currently the coordinating person for Missio funded projects in Malawi.<\/p>\n

\"Resource
Resource Mobilisation Officer (in white) Stephano Nkhata welcoming visitors at Chipunga Farm (From Left Keith Polo, Fr Bundi and Fr Chitsulo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stephano Nkhata gave background information for\u00a0 Chipunga Farm to\u00a0 the\u00a0 visitors and later on\u00a0 supported by\u00a0 James Kasambala went\u00a0 to the coffee\u00a0 and\u00a0 macadamia nursery\u00a0 beds to\u00a0 show\u00a0 them what\u00a0 we\u00a0 are\u00a0 actually doing on\u00a0 the\u00a0 ground.<\/p>\n

\"James
James Kasambara and Stephano Nkhata leading the group to the nursery that the farm is preparing in readiness for the 2019-2020 planting season which begins in December<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About 48 000 seedlings of coffee have been raised and others amounting to 40 000, seeds of coffee have been sown on a nursery bed still for the same purpose. The farm has a yearly target of 20 ha of coffee each year and one ha contains 4 000 seedlings on a one meter spacing depending on variety of the coffee.<\/p>\n

\"Keith,
Keith, Magwira, Fr Bundi and Fr John appreciating the way Chipunga Farm takes care for its nursery while still at the nursery bed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keith Polo and friends were later shown the nursery for macadamia nuts. Macadamia nuts take about two years before being transplanted into the main field.<\/p>\n

\"The
The visitors at macadamia nursery. James Kasambala explaining to Keith Polo and Fr Bundi what it takes to raise one seedling of macadamia nuts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After\u00a0 this, the\u00a0 visitors\u00a0 were taken\u00a0 to\u00a0 the main field\u00a0 where\u00a0 the\u00a0 farm\u00a0 has\u00a0 this\u00a0 year planted 20 ha of\u00a0 coffee.The picture below shows group members on a farm vehicle on\u00a0 their\u00a0 way\u00a0 the main field.<\/p>\n

\"Keith
Keith and Fr Bundi were happy to be at the back of the vehicle enjoying the cool weather of Chipunga Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"An
An established macadamia nuts plantation at Chipunga Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fr
Fr Bundi and Stephano appreciating the newly planted coffee bushes at Chipunga Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The visitors were quite impressed to see the pace and progress of the major activities of the farm. They advised the team at the farm on areas that need constant attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stephano Nkhata The Chief Lending Officer for Missio Invest Africa Mr. Keith Polo and the Regional Coordinator Fr.\u00a0 Celestino Bundi Mutea recently visited Chipunga Farm Limited to check on the progress being made at the farm especially on the two main crops, coffee and macadamia. The Diocese of Karonga acquired the farm with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":10,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chipunga-farm-limited"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.karongadiocese.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}