Rice Project

Flooded water channel - Rice on both sides

Banana trees on banks of water channels                                     Flooded rice paddies

                                    

Water pump - view from river                                                         Maputo River

I often mention that I'm very pre-occupied with other activities, and don't always get the time to devote to the bakery, so I thought I'd show what some of the other things we do here are!

The pictures above are all from our rice project, located about 2km away from the main centre of the farm. This year we have 15 hectares (37 Acres) planted, and so far its looking pretty healthy. We have to pump water to flood the rice paddies from the Maputo river that forms the eastern border of our property. Fortunately it is a large river, but it is tidal so can only be pumped from at high tide times. These always seem to have a habit of being around 4/5am which means an early start for us, getting the equipment ready and down to begin pumping.

Recently we haven't had much rain so are having to pump more often than usual, not a train smash but it does hurt our bottom line. Once the rice is harvested in about 3 months time we sell it off a a discounted price to feed our surrounding community, and unfortuantely we usually take a financial loss each year. Making the project self sustainable is our goal but as an NGO we are committed to improving the lives of those in the surrounding areas. This includes employing more workers than is strictly necessary (providing extra employment) which drives up our costs.