We finalized the purchase of seedlings last week. Actually the last orders arrived on Friday evening, for a departure in Morogoro on Saturday morning!
Each order was completed in duplicate: the species of trees requested, the number and price to pay. Below this voucher the amount to pay and at the top the name, phone number and the location of planted trees.
Doto Kizimbu, who will plant in the King'wenyu area, ordered ten blood mango trees (embe damu, either the variety Red Indian) and two tangerine trees. He must pay of 14,250 Tsh, which is half the amount we will pay for the purchase. Both copies shall be signed by both parties and stamped. A copy remains with us for the final count.
We were contacted by a farmer who wanted to order two hundred avocados. Another who wanted a hundred mango trees and one hundred tangerine trees. We had to decline these offers, arguing that it was aid for villagers and not an aid project for ann investment in a production farm.
Orders mainly concerned blood mango trees, a gig mango with excellent taste and lasts some days. Other mangoes indeed, like the Boribo variety get soon tanned and the flesh ferments quickly. It gives the impression that the consumer has only a few hours to eat it. Other like Kent and Tom Atkins are late varieties but we have only ordered a few, only for our tests at Shuleni Juu (700 m). In Chole, 800 m above sea level, the mango trees Kent start to produce, big mangoes hanging at the end of long stems.
The blood mango embe damu, Red Indian Variety and the Kent mango
This is the Dodo variety that was once the most popular but it seems to have lost its favour. The beautiful colors of Blood mango is also involved.
Our previous orders at Morogoro had occurred in a place called Maji Kilabu, on the other side of the road towards Mikumi, on the north side, compared to the University. This time we went to the University itself, which revealed a rather large cuktivated area. It is a source of income for the university.
The University Nursery and an apple tree in its polyurethane pouch
Four bags were able to carry the 308 plants
The most famous orange variety in the world is the Valencia, a medium-sized, juicy and tasty orange with some seeds. The grafted varieties, local, are the Sweet Matombo and Binti Juma (Daughter of Juma). Matombo is a village of the the southern slopes of the Uluguru Mountains, which dominate Morogoro and gave their name to the city. It is this Sweet Matombo variety that is grown at the nursery, slightly larger in size than Valencia and with fewer seeds.
It demands cold for the oranges to get this eponymous color. The oranges here remain yellow, or even green to maturity.
The scooter we ordered from Kilosa has arrived in time, we loaded it. A little over three hundred trees, distributed in bags of about 70 plants. We had five blood mango trees as a gift, a good thing because several mango trees Broke during the trip, at the grafted bud level.
The pits of "local" mangoes, these small mangoes of the black sindano variety are planted in polyurethane bags. When the plant reaches 30-40 cm they are grafted, a bevel graft (roses and citrus are shield-grafted). The grafted part is coated with a narrow plastic strip that must be removed after the plant has adapted to the soil. "After it has healed", said in Swahili.
Arrived in Chabima at Kimsi's I sent an SMS to all buyers to come and get their plants. Many have done it the next day, Christmas Day in the afternoon. One of them however had immediately called me to tell me that he was at the hospital, struck down by a malaria crisis.
These days some phone calls to ask me to how deep they had to plant (two feet) and how far (8 meters or eight steps). A precision about the bag in which are delivered the plants, which must be removed. And a request to which Kimsi and I had expected from the beginning:
- Say, some have seen the trees, they are interested … You plan to reorder?