Turge and ZemZem Garden Tour Report
December 03, 2008
? The main ditch has been about 70% lined from the leaky bridge. The lining has been overlapped at the joints by one meter and each joint will be sealed with glue.
? Secondary ridges have been cut towards the top of the ditch to lap the plastic on and the top- edges of the plastic has been covered with dirt.
? They will be short of plastic about 100 meters from the bridge where the main ditch feeds the distribution point. Tusa’s reason is that the plastic was so expensive, they were afraid to order more material.
? The ditch lining look quite good so far. Some regional officials visited the site and were very impressed. They said that this is the first project of this kind in the Oromia region. There only suggestion was to fence in the ditch as soon as possible.
? The silt removal from behind the dam has been placed on the back burner for now in order to focus on the ditch lining. The farmers are working three days per week to finish the lining. Once the lining is done, cleaning of the tertiary ditches will be cleaned and water will be allowed into the system. The farmers are hoping the seepage reduction will provide for at least 50% more efficiency this coming season.
? ZemZem’s 10 gallon garden was prepared and planted by Abera and ZemZem, and after two weeks, the plants are beginning to emerge. The garden’s size is 5×5 meters in diameter and has a base of 30cm of topsoil on top of a layer of plastic sheeting. The plastic has been used in this garden because the garden existing on a hillside will be susceptible to excessive drainage. ZemZem seems eager and grateful to be participating in this project. Others in the village have expressed interest in obtaining the same type of assistance to get their own small garden. Hopefully this garden can prove that the others in the area can do the same thing on their property.