Kanyenyeva Ministries purchased a new John Deere tractor in August, 2018. This tractor will greatly help with the work on the 133 acre farm that was purchased last year. The first growing season at the farm they planted 24 acres with maize and 35 acres ground nuts by hand.

Kanyenyeva Ministries (KM) harvested 613 50 kg bags of maize. The maize will be used for the feeding program starting in November or December, 2018, after the maize is dried and treated. The harvest across Malawi was about 1/3 of what they expected. The harvest at the new farm was about half of what they expected. The poor harvests were due to ill-timed rains.

The ground nuts were grown for a seed supplier, who will sell them retail. KM will receive a higher price for the ground nuts than selling them on the food market because they are ‘certified’. KM received a Certificate as seed growers for ground nuts. The money raised from the ground nuts will be used to purchase fertilizer and seed for future maize and ground nut plantings. The ground nut harvest was about ½ of what they expected. The rains and disease limited their harvest.

KM plans to rent the tractor to other farms for additional income.

As they move into future years, the plan is to rotate crops on acreage. In about 5 years, they expect the farm to provide 90% of the funding and maize for the feeding program.

A huge thank you to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crosby, MN. They donated the proceeds from their Manna for Malawi fundraiser for the purchase this tractor.